The Congress Bureau met in Strasbourg on 1 and 2 December for its last meeting in 2016. It approved the draft agenda of the 32st Session of the Congress (28-30 March 2017), the terms of reference of committees and the Congress’ contribution to the Cypriot chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. The Bureau members also appointed the rapporteurs for the Bureau and the thematic spokespersons for the period 2017-2018 and held a broad exchange of views with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, with whom they discussed the situation of local democracy in member states, in particular Turkey, Poland, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. The Bureau also heard a statement by the Chair of the Group of Independent Experts (GIE), Angel Manuel Moreno Molina, and it considered, in particular, the way in which the European Charter of Local Self Government had been received in member states. Finally, the Secretary General’s Special Representative for Roma issues, Valeriu Nicolae, presented the 'Dosta! & UEFA Respect' project against racism, anti-gypsyism and violence against women. At the end of the meeting, the Bureau members donned the Dosta! Campaign t-shirt to symbolise their commitment against discrimination towards Roma.  

Agenda of the Bureau and access to documents
Photos [Flickr]