30th session (22-24 March 2016)

• Hemicycle
• Room 1

• Debates
• Bureau and Commissions
• Side events
• Participation of youth delegates in Congress activities

• Tuesday 22 March: morning | afternoon
• Wednesday 23 March: morning | afternoon
• Thursday 24 March: morning

• Debates of the session and Mediabox interviews

Tuesday 22 March

• Communication by Jean-Claude Frécon, President of the Congress
   
• Local and regional democracy in France 
  - Presentation by Jos Wienen, the Netherlands (L, EPP/CCE), and Gudrun MOSLER-TÖRNSTRÖM, Austria (R, SOC)
  - Statement by Estelle Grelier, Secretary of State for Local Authorities, attached to the Minister of Town and Country Planning (Regional Development), Rural Affairs and Local Authorities
   

• Ethics and transparency at local and regional level I: Overview of the situation in Europe 
  - Presentation by Herwig van Staa, Austria (R, EPP/CCE), Thematic Spokesperson on Promoting Public Ethics and Preventing Corruption at the Local and Regional Levels
  - Statements by Professor Francesco Merloni, Member of the Italian National Anti-Corruption Authority
  - Statements by Marin Mrčela, Chairman of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)
   

• Rising to the challenges of creating intercultural societies at local level 
  - Presentation of the Congress Strategy to Combat Radicalisation at Grassroots Level by the rapporteur: Leen Verbeek, Netherlands (R, SOC)
  - Statement by Charles Saint-Prot, Director General of the Observatory of Geopolitical Studies, Paris, France
  - Statement by Alaa Murabit, Founder of the Voice of Libyan Women, Libya
  - Statement by Nuria Parlon Gil, Mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain, member of the Intercultural Cities Network
  - Statement by Mariam Inayat, Ambassador for the British Youth Council, United Kingdom
   

• Integrating refugees at local level
  - Statement by Thorsten Klute, Secretary of State, Minister of Labour, Integration and Social Affairs of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany
  - Statement by Mustafa Dündar, Mayor of Osmangazi, district of Bursa, Turkey
   

Wednesday 23 March

• Autonomy and borders in an evolving Europe 
  - Presentation by Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Belgium (R, SOC)
   
• Evolution of regionalisation in member States of the Council of Europe
  - Presentation by Francesco Merloni, honorary President of the Group of Independent Experts
   
• Fighting human trafficking: The role of local authorities
   
• Internally displaced persons: the hidden face of the refugee crisis
   
• Chairmanship by Bulgaria of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
  - Statement by Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works on behalf of the Bulgarian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers
   
• Observation of local elections in Ukraine 
  - Presentation by Jos Wienen, Netherlands (L, EPP/CCE)
  - Statement by Arnoldas Abramavicius, on behalf of the members of the Committee of the Regions participating in the observation mission, Lithuania
   
• Post-monitoring dialogue
  - Presentation by Philippe Receveur, Switzerland (R, EPP/CCE), Chair of the Monitoring Committee
  - Statement by Vache Terteryan, First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations, Armenia
  - Statement by Tengiz Shergelashvili, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Georgia
  - Statement by Vyacheslav Nehoda, First Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Ukraine
   
• Ceremony awarding the Congress medal to honorary members
   

Thursday 24 March

• Ethics and transparency at local and regional level II: Making public procurement transparent
  - Statement by Elizabeth Davide- Barrett, Lecturer at the University of Sussex Centre for the Study of Corruption, United Kingdom
  - Statement by Imrich Žigo, Deputy Mayor of Martin, Slovak Republic
   
• Conclusions of the fact-finding mission to Albania
  - Presentation by Jos Wienen, the Netherlands (L, EPP/CCE)
  - Statement by Alkistis Giogiou
   
• Local and regional democracy in the Slovak Republic
  - Presentation by Artur Torres Pereira, Portugal (L, EPP/CCE)