Keith Whitmore maps out Congress strategy at Committee of Ministers meeting

[18/11/2011 16:00:00] During the annual exchange of views with the Committee of Ministers President Keith Whitmore recalled major reform steps of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities over the last year. ''The Congress is very different from what it used to be. Now we are tackling the core issues of the Council of Europe,'' he said on 16 November 2011. In addition to the central mission of monitoring local and regional democracy, the President referred to recent Congress events such as the Summit of Mayors on Roma and to other important fields of Congress action, for example promoting human rights at the grassroots, pursuing local integration for better social cohesion and increasing citizen participation through the European Local Democracy Week.

''These are different aspects of our efforts to make local and regional action to meet national and European priorities and to ensure coherence of action between different levels of governance'', Mr Whitmore stressed. ''The Congress’ presence at the Ministerial Conference in Kyiv (Ukraine) earlier this month and its contribution to the report of Minister Manuel Chaves, exploring the Council’s of Europe work in the field of territorial policies, were good examples for fruitful interaction between the European, national and grassroots level,'' underlined the President. ''This vision of jointly working on an agenda in common respecting the identities and roles of all partners must guide our future action'', he concluded.