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.

news

Back Forum for Local Democracy in Ukraine: mayors, councillors and young local leaders commit to strengthen good local governance

Forum for Local Democracy in Ukraine: mayors, councillors and young local leaders commit to strengthen good local governance

Meeting at the Forum for local democracy in Ukraine, organised by the Congres from 4 to 7 July 2017 in Cherniyv region, some hundred participants - Ukrainian mayors, councillors and young local leaders, as well as Congress members and experts - adopted a final declaration. They committed to increase the quality of representative democracy and to develop participatory strategies to engage citizens in the decision-making processes at the local and regional levels, thereby contributing to the local self-government reform in Ukraine. The declaration emphasizes the need for transparency and trust, as well as for initiatives promoting equal opportunities for women and men and for better participation of young people. The Snovjanka Forum is organised within the project “Promoting Local Democracy in Ukraine”, led by the Congress in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017.

Press release

Final declaration (English version)

Final declaration (Ukrainian version)

Video interviews (Youtube)

Video clip

Photos (Flickr)

Website of the Forum

Cooperation Ukraine 7 July 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.