Online event, Monday, 7 December 2020, 2:30pm - 5:00pm CET

14h30 - Effectively responding to a public health crisis in full respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law: the Athens Declaration

Anders KNAPE, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Since November 2018, Anders Knape is the president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. He is President of the Swedish Association of Local and Regional Authorities (SALAR) since March 2019 and Lord Mayor of the City of Karlstad since 2014. He is also a member of the bureau of the Committee of the Regions, Executive President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and Member Executive Bureau and World Council of the United Cities and Local Government.

Marija PEJČINOVIĆ-BURIĆ, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
On 26 June 2019, Marija Pejčinović Burić was elected as the 14th Secretary General of the Council of Europe. She was Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia and Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia from 19 June 2017 to 19 July 2019, and Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from May to November 2018. From 2008 to 2011, she served as a Member of the Croatian Parliament.
 

Michael ROTH | Video message, Minister of State of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, Special Representative of the Federal Government for the German Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
Michael Roth is minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office since December 2013 and Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation since 2014. He is a directly elected Member of the German Bundestag for Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg since 1998. He has been Spokesperson of the SPD Members of the Bundestag from Land Hesse from 2009 to 2014 and again since 2017 and SPD parliamentary group spokesperson on Europe from 2010 to 2013.

15h30 - Responding to the crisis – the role of local and regional authorities

Gunn Marit HELGESEN, President of the Chamber of Regions
In October 2016, Gunn Marit Helgesen was elected as President of the Chamber of Regions and she was re-elected on 6 November 2018. Mrs Helgesen was President of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) since 2012 and was elected First Vice-President in 2020. She is the Head of the Norwegian delegation to the Congress. Ms. Helgesen was elected as Vice-President of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) in 2000 and was the President of the North Sea Commission between 2004 and 2012. In 2013. Gunn Mart Helgesen became the Vice President of the Executive Bureau of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) In 2016. she was elected Co-President and member of the presidency of the organisation. Ms. Helgesen also represents Norway in the World Council and Executive Bureau of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

Xavier CADORET, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities
In November 2018, Xavier Cadoret was elected President of the Chamber of Local Authorities. He is the mayor of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, in the Allier region, French department located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, since 1991, Member of the Executive Committee of the Association of French Mayors (AMF) and since 2010, he has been a member of the French delegation to the Congress of the Council of Europe.
 

Kostas BAKOYANNIS, Mayor of Athens
In June 2019, he was elected Mayor of Athens. Previously, he served as governor of central Greece from 2014 to 2019, and as mayor of Karpenissi from 2011 to 2014. He worked at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as executive manager in an investor relations and corporate communications company. He also held positions in the European Parliament in Brussels and the World Bank in Kosovo. Mr. Bakoyannis is vice president of the Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government, council member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and a Greek Leadership Council member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Gabriele NEFF, President of the Current Affairs Committee of the Congress
Gabriele Neff is President of the Current Affairs Committee of the Congress since October 2016 and Councillor of the City of Munich since May 2002. Mrs Neff is also a member of the Bavarian and German Association of Cities, member of the German – Polish Committee and of the German – French Committee of the German Section of the CEMR and was representative of the City of Munich in EUROCITIES from 2009 - 2020.