Congress President

Marc Cools, President of the Congress


Marc Cools (Belgium, ILDG) was elected President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on 24 October 2023 for a mandate of two years and a half. He is currently the Communal Councillor of Uccle (Belgium) and Honorary Vice-President of the Brussels Parliament  and was previously the chair of the Independent and Liberal Democrat Group in the Congress.

Chamber of Local Authorities

Bernd Vöhringer, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities

Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE) was elected on 25 October 2023 President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress for a two-and-a-half-year term of office.

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Back Congress of the Council of Europe delegation carries out a high-level visit to Ukraine

Congress of the Council of Europe delegation carries out a high-level visit to Ukraine

A delegation of the Congress of local and regional authorities, chaired by Gudrun MOSLER-TÖRNSTRÖM, President of the Congress, is carrying out a high-level visit to Ukraine from 20 to 22 November 2017. The delegation is composed of Gunn Marit HELGESEN (Norway, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Regions, Yuliya SVITLYCHNA (Ukraine, ILDG), Vice-President of the Congress, Leendert VERBEEK (Netherlands, SOC), President of the Monitoring Committee and Marc COOLS (Belgium, ILDG), rapporteur on local democracy in Ukraine. The aim of the visit is to take stock of the development in the field of local self-government and decentralisation reform since the signature of a Roadmap between the Ukrainian national authorities and the Congress in 2015. On 21 November, high level meetings are scheduled in Kyiv with government representatives, in particular with Volodymyr GROYSMAN, Prime Minister of Ukraine and Hennadii ZUBKO, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine, Minister of Regional Development, Building and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine. The delegation will also meet with Andriy PARUBIY, Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine as well as Vitali KLITSCHKO, Mayor of Kyiv, and Mustafa DZHEMILEV, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for the Affairs of Crimean Tatars. On 22 November, a roundtable “Strengthening local and regional democracy in Ukraine”, organised within the project “Promoting local democracy in Ukraine” and the Council of Europe Action Plan 2015 - 2017 for Ukraine, will bring together members of the Ukrainian national delegation to the Congress and representatives of national associations of Ukraine to hold an exchange of views on the recent developments in the implementation of the Congress Roadmap in the context of post-monitoring dialogue with the Ukrainian authorities.

Programme: high level meetings

Programme: Roundtable

Press release

Project "Promoting local democracy in Ukraine"

Council of Europe Action Plan 2015 - 2017 for Ukraine

Photo gallery

MONITORING Kyiv, Ukraine 20 November 2017
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President's role

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.  

Chamber of Regions

Tunc Soyer, President of the Chamber of Regions

Tunc Soyer (Türkiye, SOC/G/PD) was elected on 25 October 2023 President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress for a two-and-a-half-year term of office.