Congress President Gudrun Mosler-Törnström addressed the Conference organised on 5 May in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain), on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the Parliament of Galicia. “The Congress is convinced that regional self-government contributes to the principles of stability and democracy within the country and in Europe as a whole,” she explained presenting the work of the Congress, in particular, the report recently adopted on “Trends in regionalisation in Council of Europe member States”. “This report showed tendencies towards recentralisation in several Council of Europe member States which represent a threat for regional government,” underlined the Congress President. “Regionalisation must respect national borders and should not be regarded as a problem or a danger, but rather as a means to maintain unity,” she said mentioning the Spanish Comunidades Autonomas which are, according to the report “real and efficient regional institutions”. Mrs Mosler-Törnström also presented an overview of the Congress thematic activities in the field of prevention of corruption, promotion of good governance, fight against radicalisation and populism. “The response to all these challenges cannot be other than European, with the involvement of regional governments and parliaments in national and European decision-making processes,” she concluded.
Speech
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