At its 14th meeting on 29-30 November 2021, the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG) gave final consideration to and adopted a draft Recommendation for the Committee of Ministers on democratic accountability of elected officials and elected bodies at local and regional level, as well as draft guidelines on the use of information and communication technologies in the electoral process.

Exchanges of views were held with Ms Romina Kuko, Deputy Minister of Interior, Albania; Mr Vendelin Leitner, State Secretary, Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic; Mr Vache Terteryan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Armenia; Mr Leendert Verbeek, President of the Congress and Mr Gerhard Ermischer, President of the Conference of INGOs. The CDDG also heard from the experience of other member States with regard to administrative and territorial reforms, and governance-related matters.

The CDDG discussed the implementation of Council of Europe conventions under the responsibility of the CDDG and held a review meeting on the implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2017)5 on standards for e-voting (with the participation of various experts and bodies including the Venice Commission and Election Management Bodies). The CDDG took stock of activities in 2021 of the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance, the platform of the European Label on Governance Excellence (EloGE), and the Division on elections and participatory democracy. It approved its workplan 2022 and elected its new Chair, Vice-Chair and Bureau.