The Secretary General of the Congress, Andreas Kiefer, and members of the Congress Secretariat held a remote meeting with the Secretaries of the national delegations on December 2, 2020. Andreas Kiefer presented the activities of the Congress, including the remote procedures for the observation of local elections in Ukraine (25 October 2020) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (15 November 2020), as well as the remote monitoring procedures planned in Bulgaria on 10 December 2020 and in the Netherlands in January 2021. Set up in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, these remote procedures remain exceptional and aim to maintain political dialogue with the authorities of the member states.

The participants also exchanged about the 5th Statutory Forum that will be held remotely on 7 December 2020, as well as about the programme of the event "Covid-19: local and regional authorities at the frontline", organised on the same day. This event will bring together the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, ministers representing the Greek and the German presidencies of the Committee of Ministers to discuss with Congress members the best ways to ensure effective responses to a public health crisis in full respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Also on the agenda of the meeting were the process of renewal of delegations scheduled for March 2021, as well as the results of a satisfaction survey conducted among committee members on the remote holding of meetings. In addition, the delegation secretaries were informed about the next meetings of the Current Affairs, Governance and Monitoring Committees which will be held on 10 and 11 February 2021, as well as about the organisation of the European Local Democracy Week.