Presidency

Leendert Verbeek (The Netherlands, SOC/G/PD) was elected President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on 23 March 2021 for a mandate of two years and a half. He is currently the King's Commissioner for the Province of Flevoland in the Netherlands and he had previously held office as President of the Monitoring Committee of the Congress.
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Bernd Vöhringer,
President of the Chamber of Local Authorities
Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE) was elected, on 23 March 2021, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress, for a two-and-a-half-year term of office.
Chamber of Local Authorities
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- President of the Congress, Leendert Verbeek: "So-called referendums organised in the occupied territories of Ukraine are a denial of the rule of law, human rights and democracy"
- International Day of Democracy: Congress President calls for strengthening democratic resilience on the European continent
- Congress President condemns the continuing abduction of Ukrainian local elected representatives
- Congress President warns of fictitious Russian "referendums" in Ukrainian territories
- 2022 High Level Political Forum: "Local and regional authorities must be given the means to implement responses to crisis situations”

The President's role is to direct the political activities of the Congress and its Chambers, to carry out Congress policy and to represent the Congress vis-à-vis other international organisations, within the context of the Council of Europe's general policy on external relations.
The President of the Congress ensures that decisions taken by the Congress are implemented and reacts on behalf of the Congress to current developments. He or she also presents the activities of the Congress and the texts that it has adopted to the Parliamentary Assembly and Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Harald Sonderegger,
President of the Chamber of Regions
Harald Sonderegger (Austria, EPP/CCE) was elected, on 23 March 2021, President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress, for a two-and-a-half-year term of office.
Chambre of Regions
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