Herwig Van Staa, Président de la Chambre des régions du Congrès du Conseil de l'Europe BIOGRAPHY

Jean-Claude Frécon, President of the Congress' Chamber of Local Authorities


France, SOC

Statute within the Congress

General Profile

He is currently: Senator of the Loire department in Rhône-Alpes; Municipal Councillor of Pouilly-lès-Feurs; and a member of the French Mayors Association, responsible for financial relationships between the Government and Local Administration.

Congress Profile

He has been a member of Congress since 1994, a Congress Vice President since 2002 as well as the President of the Congress French delegation since 2004.

He is the Vice-President of the Group of independent experts on the European Charter of local self-government, and under this guise was the Congress spokesman in June 1998 on “finances and responsibilities of local administration in Europe” and in June 2000 on “ financial resources of local administration, responsibilities and the principle of subsidiarity”.

He is the Congress Spokesman on: Azerbaijan, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Romania, the financial situation of local administration in Germany and general Spokesman for the European Forum of local democracy in Kiev (2009).

He has been an Elections observer in Albania, Azerbaijan, "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Israel, Palestine, Romania and Tchetchenia.

He has been instrumental in missions in Sarajevo for the preparation of elections and in Marocco for the implementation of decentralisation and monitoring missions in Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Georgia, Montenegro, Russia, Slovenia, Latvia.