Since 2007, more than 1000 cities, regions and their associations across the 47 Council of Europe member states have celebrated the European Week of Local Democracy (ELDW) – an annual event created for boosting citizen participation at local and regional level, co-ordinated by the Congress. The week around 15 October has been chosen for holding this event as a tribute to the European Charter of Local Self-Government, opened for signature on that date in 1985, 30 years ago. This year, the main theme of the ELDW is “Living together in multicultural societies: respect, dialogue, interaction”, which “echoes recent events, in particular the terrorist attacks in several European cities earlier in 2015, and the current challenges related to migration” as recalled by ELDW Spokesperson Gaye Doganoglu (Turkey, EPP/ECC). Accordingly, some participating municipalities are organising seminars on solidarity, debates on human rights, exchanges with migrants and visits of refugee camps, in the framework of the ELDW. Local and regional authorities, who wish to take part in the ELDW 2015, can register their related activities organised in October on the website of the Week.
