Autumn Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe of Europe

13-15 November 2006, Moscow

Speech by Sergey Mironov, Chairman of the Council of Federation

of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

The forthcoming autumn session in Moscow of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe will become the highlight event of the concluding phase of the Russian Chairmanship in the Committee of Ministers in the Council of Europe.

Over the past years, the Congress has visibly intensified its activity focused on promoting local and regional democracy in Europe, searching for innovative approaches and spreading advance experience in the field of strengthening inter-regional and cross-border co-operation. Many of the recommendations adopted by the Congress aim at solving concrete problems affecting the every-day life of millions of ordinary Europeans, and are marked with the spirit of responsibility for improving its quality.

The constructive and candid dialogue that we maintain with the Congress, allows us to improve the legislative base and to bring it closer to the European norms and standards. Russia has recently made significant progress in reforming the system of local and regional government. New laws have laid down the pre-requisites for a more balanced division of authority between the levels of state power and local self-government. This is highly relevant and important for accelerating the formation of the civil society and genuine local self-government in Russia, protecting the interests of the population, and establishing a mechanism to ensure the true accountability of the highest-rank officials in the regions.

I wish the participants in the session fruitful and interesting work. I am hopeful that it will help to elaborate joint approaches to solving the most pressing Europe-wide problems and, thus, to make a contribution to the building of a Greater Europe without dividing lines.