COMMUNICATION OF THE CONGRESS PRESIDENT TO THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS (ORAL)
13 September 2006
Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
It is my honour to address you today for the first time as President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which renewed its composition and held new elections of Presidents, Vice-Presidents and Committee Chairs during its 13th plenary session last May. My predecessor, Giovanni Di Stasi, attached a particular importance to the relations between the Congress and the Committee of Ministers. He indeed turned them into relations built on confidence and mutual respect, and I certainly intend to pursue this engagement in dealing with questions concerning our Congress.
Today, I will not go into great detail about the Congress’ 13th plenary session, which was held from 30 May to 1 June. You have at your disposal a written information document which takes stock of the session and of the texts adopted during the session, including the Congress recommendations and resolutions.
I just would like to underline that the diversity of subjects dealt with in these adopted texts, both resolutions and recommendations, reflects the diversity and the wide range of work carried out by the Congress as you can see : from the water and waste management and the safety of nuclear plants, to observation of elections and monitoring the development of local and regional democracy in our member states. The presentation of a report on combating trafficking in human beings was followed by the signing of a declaration by representatives of municipalities. After the Session, the declaration was posted on the Congress website, with a possibility of online signature. Many local authorities have already joined.
Not to repeat the whole document you have in your files, I will draw your attention to just a few highlights of the session. First, I would like to express my appreciation for the very important contribution of the Russian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers to the work of this session. I mean by this the communication of the Committee of Ministers’ Chair, represented by Mrs Svetlana Orlova, who is Vice-Speaker of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, and the Head of the Russian delegation to the Congress.
Of course, I also have in mind the participation of Valentina Matvienko, Governor of St Petersburg, who addressed the session during the debate on the establishment of a Centre on inter-regional and transfrontier cooperation in St Petersburg – the question which is on the list of your decisions for today.