Note to editors

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities to hold its spring session in Malaga

Strasbourg, 13.02.2008 – Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Malaga (Spain), Keith Whitmore, Chair of the Congress’ Institutional Committee, and Pedro Castro, President of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, will give a press conference on Monday 18 February at 11 am in the City Hall of Malaga (Avenue Cervantes) to announce the Spring Session of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, to be held in Malaga on 13 and 14 March.

The main items on the session’s agenda include sustainable development, the situation of local and regional democracy in Spain, inter-regional co-operation in the Black Sea basin, the draft Urban Charter, the development of City Diplomacy, and reports on the observation of elections in Kosovo (Serbia) and the Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

On 13 March (afternoon), the Congress will be debating "The consumer's civic responsibility for sustainable development", and then "Climate change: building the adaptive capacity of local and regional authorities" in plenary session. Halvdan Skard, President of the Congress, and Francisco de la Torre Prados, Mayor of Malaga, will address the session before the debates.

The Chamber of Regions and the Chamber of Local Authorities will meet in parallel on the same day. The latter's agenda will include debates on city diplomacy, integration through sport and biodiversity policies for urban areas. Carlos Alberto Pinto (Portugal, EPP/CD) will also be presenting his report on the European Urban Charter. The Chamber of Regions will discuss policies for territorial cohesion, and inter-regional co-operation in the Black Sea basin.

Contacts:

In Strasbourg (France)

Dmitri Marchenkov

Council of Europe Congress

Head of the Communication Unit

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 38 44

Mobile: +33 (0)6 75 65 03 49

In Malaga (Spain)

Marité Moras

Council of Europe Congress

Secretary of the Committee on Sustainable Development

Mobile: +33 (0)6 50 39 29 10