The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities’ Group of Independent Experts (GIE) has concluded its annual meeting in Bucharest, Romania (24-25 September 2026) where it discussed a range of new and updated tools being prepared for the fightback against current challenges to local and regional democracy.
Speaking at the conclusion of the meeting, GIE President Angel Manuel Moreno Molina said:
“Against the backdrop of democratic decline in many European communities and countries and with work towards the Council of Europe’s New Democratic Pact for Europe firmly in mind, it is vitally important that constitutional experts both contribute to new ideas for the defence of European local democracy, and that we can use the new tools that result from it.
“The lively and positive debates at this meeting are testament to our determination to play our part in this important work.”
Democratic initiatives discussed at the meeting included:
- a risk-alert dashboard with indicators that detect backsliding across key elements of local democracy;
- a draft report on the status of domestic and international election observers, including at the sub-national level, and following a joint debate held by the Congress, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe;
- a draft checklist on preventing and combating corruption at the local and regional levels, which will be debated at the October 2026 Congress session.
The GIE also discussed the proposal for an additional protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the Environment, which would seek to clarify the current environmental responsibilities of sub-national governments and guide them in using those powers to the best possible effect, as well as progress on updating the contemporary commentary on the explanatory report to the European Charter of Self-Government, so that the Charter remains a living instrument that can respond to the latest developments affecting local democracy.
