Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

Congress President Jean-Claude Frécon held an exchange of views with the Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, in Strasbourg on 1 October 2015 on the occasion of the Parliamentary Assembly session. President Frécon presented the work of the Congress and spoke about the next monitoring mission to Serbia in 2016 (the last monitoring mission was in 2010). Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić said that Serbia had registered some 164.000 refugees who transited the country on the way to Germany and Scandinavian countries and confirmed that Serbia would continue to fulfill its humanitarian obligations. Jean-Claude Frécon looked forward to the contributions of the Serbian delegation at the next Congress session debates on refugees and migration in October. The Prime Minister confirmed that he would do all he could to improve the situation of local and regional democracy in Serbia in the interest of the citizens and praised the Council of Europe and its wealth of experience which helps member States to improve their performance in respect of commitments made.