“Effective multilevel governance is a key policy option in response to democratic challenges such as declining trust in institutions and the need to build more effective, accountable and inclusive decision-making process,” underlined Congress Vice-President Andrew Boff (United Kingdon, ECR) at the opening of the international conference on “Multilevel Governance Approaches to Reinforce Democratic Resilience and Build Public Trust,” in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, on 29 April 2026.

“It is essential to clarify responsibilities between levels of government, strengthen co-ordination, and ensure that democratic institutions respond to citizens’ needs,” he continued, stressing that the Congress stands ready to support the Republic of Moldova in its local public administration reform process, as it has done in Ukraine, Armenia, Albania and many other countries, through policy advice, peer exchange and capacity-building.

The objective of this event, which was a contribution to the Council of Europe’s New Democratic Pact for Europe organised under the Moldovan Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, was to showcase innovative policies for better coordination between national, regional and local authorities in addressing democratic backsliding and declining citizens’ trust through multilevel governance reforms.

The Conference was organized by the State Chancellery of the Government of the Republic of Moldova, with the support of the project “Promoting Multilevel Dialogue, Open Government, and Human Rights at the Local Level in the Republic of Moldova” of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, carried out as part of the Council of Europe’s Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova 2025–2028.