Gudrun Mosler-Törnström: “The Congress, 60 years at the service of local and regional democracy in Europe”

Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, President of the Congress, addressed the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe on 11 January 2017. She recalled that the Conference of Local Authorities of the Council of Europe – predecessor of the Congress – held its first session in Strasbourg on 12 January 1957. “Local democracy in the Council of Europe will thus be 60 years old tomorrow. The Congress has increased in political maturity and operational capacity and has become a reliable partner and a valuable support for national governments and public policies.” she added, recalling that 1957 was also the signature of the Rome treaties and the creation of the European Community.

“The main current challenges in Europe are the integration of migrants and refugees and the fight against radicalisation leading to terrorism, both having led to a lasting systemic crisis in all our member States” she underlined. “Our message to national authorities is that local authorities should be made full partners in addressing these challenges. This means that they can be part of the solution if they are consulted and involved when governments draft their policies.” she stressed. Ms Mosler-Törnström, the first woman ever elected President of the Congress, underlined the increased representation of women within the Congress, which reached 42% at its last session. “These achievements may well be the result of the Congress’ proactive policy which consisted of the introduction, in 2008 of a quota ensuring at least 30% of the under-represented sex in the national delegations” underlined the President.

She also paid tribute to her predecessor Jean-Claude Frécon, who passed away in December: “He spent his long career and his successive mandates in promoting the European Charter of Local Self-government and who worked to develop the political dialogue with member States and, as such, was an architect of the first signatures of the Congress’ road maps with national governments as follow-up to Congress monitoring reports.”