Exchange of views of the Secretary General of the Congress with the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 19 April 2017 - The 32nd session of the Congress and the work carried out by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe since the end of November 2016 were the subject of a communication to the Ministers' Deputies on Wednesday 19 April. Secretary General Andreas Kiefer stressed the importance of the debates held during the Session on the situation of local and regional democracy in several member states in the presence of the ministers of these countries (Estonia, Finland, Iceland and Malta). "The participation of state representatives in the debates shows the relevance of the political dialogue to give concrete follow-up to the Congress's recommendations," he said, adding that "more and more member states view the work of the Congress as a positive contribution to their reforms ". He also mentioned the debates on the role of local and regional authorities in relation to migration, the Congress's fact-finding mission on the situation of local elected representatives in Turkey, the fight against anti-Gypsyism, the Southern Partnership (In the presence of delegations from Tunisia and Morocco), the observation of several local elections, as well as on the assessment of the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government by the 47 member states through both a comparative analysis of its implementation and an analysis of the recurring issues identified in assessments following monitoring and election observation missions. All the work carried out between the end of November 2016 and April 2017 is compiled in an activity report available in English and French on the Congress website.