On 4 April 2019, the Committee of Ministers adopted Recommendation CM/Rec(2019)3 on the supervision of local authorities activities.

The new Recommendation takes into account current rules and practices as well as recent trends in supervision of local authorities' action in Member States and provides guidelines for member States to improve supervision of local authorities’ activities in full respect of the European Charter of local Self-Government. It thus helps to provide adequate oversight while ensuring that local authorities have “the right and the ability …, within the limits of the law, to regulate and manage a substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility and in the interests of the local population”.

The text was prepared by the European Committee on Democracy and Governance, in consultation with the Congress of local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe.