During its 46th session, on 27 March 2024, the Congress held a special ceremony to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Congress President Marc Cools and Deputy Prime Minister of Liechtenstein Sabine Monauni delivered opening speeches, while President of the European Committee of the Regions Vasco Alves Cordeiro sent a video message. Opening speeches were followed by a round table on “New challenges ahead: is local democracy fit for purpose?”, with the participation of Dominique Faure, Minister with responsibility for Local Government and Rural Affairs of France; Josep Dallerès, member of the Council of Europe High-Level Reflection Group and former Permanent Representative of Andorra to the Council of Europe; Danela Arsovska, Mayor of Skopje (North Macedonia) and Chair of the UN Forum of Mayors; José Manuel Ribeiro, Mayor of Valongo (Portugal); and Željko Vukša-Fejzić, 2023 Youth Delegate to the Congress from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The celebratory event honored the Congress's history by uniting six former Presidents and the three most recent Secretary Generals. Additionally, a video archive from Jacques Chaban-Delmas, the first president of the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, was showcased.
“The challenges faced by our societies today require us to double our efforts to provide the best responses for the benefit of our fellow citizens. Our progress and successes over the last three decades give me confidence that local and regional democracy in Europe, and our Congress, are well equipped to meet them,” stressed in his opening speech President Cools. Deputy Prime Minister Monauni emphasized the efforts carried out during Liechtenstein's Presidency of the Committee of Ministers to face these challenges. President Cordeiro, in his video message, underlined the important collaboration between the two organizations and expressed his determination to enhance it.
Preceded by a musical interlude, the main highlight of this celebration was a round-table discussion devoted to “New challenges ahead: is local democracy fit for purpose?”. This discussion provided an opportunity for several speakers to address the challenges confronting democracies. In response to these challenges, they collectively voiced optimism and proposed solutions to strengthen local democracy.
Minister Faure recalled that "local democracy will be vital in tackling the challenges of transition that lie ahead: ecology and climate change, digital technology and artificial intelligence, as well as cohabitation and social cohesion". Ambassador Dallerès highlighted the need to recognise democracy as a culture that requires to be taught and learned, and to create a “Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture” at the local level. Mayor Arsovska, for her part, pointed to the need for the institutions to encourage the political involvement of women, especially by “showing sincere supports in the ambitions of women, and making it possible for us to tackle the violation we face in our everyday life.”
“Representative democracy and participatory democracy are like two twin sisters: they grow with each other and learn from each other”, underlined Mayor Ribeiro, adding that the mechanisms of participatory democracy served as a countermeasure to authoritarian tendencies. Željko Vukša-Fejzić praised initiatives, such as the "Rejuvenating Politics", which provide a platform for young people to express themselves. “They are a promise, a contract for the future […] These programs must reach every corner of Europe, and even beyond”, he said.
Statement by President Marc Cools (French only)
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