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.

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.  

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Back Monitoring visit by the Congress to Poland

Monitoring visit by the Congress to Poland

A delegation from the Congress carried out a monitoring visit to Poland from 5 to 7 June 2018. The delegation  examined the situation of local and regional democracy in the light of the provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, ratified by the country in 1993.

 

Rapporteurs on local and regional democracy, Mr David BARO RIBA (Andorra, NI-NR) and Mr Pascal MANGIN (France, EPP/CCE) focused on the developments in the field of local and regional democracy occurred since the adoption of the last Congress recommendation, on 26 March 2015.

 

Meetings were scheduled, in particular, with Mr Paweł SZEFERNAKER, Secretary of State of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Mr Tomasz ROBACZYŃSKI, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Finance, Mr Adam HAMRYSZCZAK, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, Ms Maria KOC, Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Ryszard TERLECKI, Vice-Speaker of the Sejm, Mr Krzysztof KWIATKOWSKI, President of the Supreme Audit Office (NIK) and Dr Adam BODNAR, Commissioner for Human Rights.

 

The delegation held discussions with the National Delegation of Poland to the Congress and members of associations of local and regional authorities of Poland. The rapporteurs also exchanged views with Mr Michał OLSZEWSKI, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw, and the representatives of local and regional authorities of the region of Łódź, the city of Łódź, Łódź East County and municipality of Nowosolna.

 

The draft report and recommendation will be examined and submitted for approval at the Monitoring Committee meeting in November 2018 before its submission for adoption by the Congress Session in March 2019.

Poland ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1993. The countries which have ratified the Charter are bound by its provisions. The Charter requires compliance with a minimum number of rights, which form the European bedrock of local self-government. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities makes sure that these principles are observed. 

 

 

Contact:
Svitlana PEREVERTEN, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Co-Secretary to the Monitoring Committee, Phone: +33 (0) 3 90 21 64 27, E-mail: [email protected]

Strasbourg 31 May 2018
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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.

Chamber of Local Authorities

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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.