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Ref. CG-016 (2016)

Monitoring visit by the Congress to Iceland

Strasbourg, 17 June 2016 - A delegation from the Congress of the Council of Europe will carry out a monitoring visit to Iceland from 21 to 23 June 2016. The delegation will examine the situation on local democracy in the light of the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, ratified by the country in 1991. Co-rapporteurs on local democracy Mr Jos Wienen (Netherlands, EPP/CCE) and Mr Zdenek Broz (Czech Republic, ECR), will focus on the developments in the field of local democracy occurred since the last Congress monitoring visit in 2009 which led to the adoption of the report on local democracy in Iceland and of  Recommendation 283 (2010).

High level meetings are scheduled in Reykjavik, in particular with Mr Hermann Sæmundsson, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Markús Sigurbjörnsson, President of the Supreme Court, as well as Mr Sigurdur H. Helgason, Director General for the Department of Public Management and Reform at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of Iceland.

The delegation will also meet the Ombudsman Mr Tryggvi Gunnarsson. A meeting is also scheduled at the Parliament with Ms Vigdís Hauksdóttir, Chairman of the Budget Committee.

The rapporteurs will meet with the representatives of the city of Reykjavik, Dalabyggð, Garðabær, and Reykjanesbær as well as the Icelandic Delegation to the Congress and National Association of Local Authorities.

The countries which have ratified the Charter are bound by its provisions. The Charter requires compliance with a minimum number of rights which form the European foundation for local self-government. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe makes sure that these principles are observed.

The Congress has two chambers, the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions. It brings together 324 full and 324 substitute members representing more than 200 000 European territorial communities.
President of the Congress: Jean-Claude Frécon (France, SOC), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities: Anders Knape (Sweden, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Regions: Gudrun Mosler-Törnström (Austria, SOC)
Political Groups: Socialist Group (SOC), Group of the European People’s Party (EPP/CCE), Independent and Liberal Democrat Group (ILDG), European Conservatives & Reformists Group  (ECR)