“Our session is taking place at a special moment, the 40th anniversary of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. This Charter, ratified by the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe, has established the provisions that must be respected in order for local self-government to be effective in our various countries,” said Congress President Marc Cools at the opening of the 49th Congress session, in Strasbourg on 28 October 2025. “Our Congress regularly monitors its implementation in each member State. This monitoring, the recommendations made by the Congress, and the political dialogue established in each country with all levels of government contribute to strengthening local democracy throughout Europe and improving its quality,” he added.
The agenda of the session, which was opened to the sound of the European and Ukrainian anthems, features debates on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and a just peace for Ukraine, war-related challenges faced by Ukraine’s regions, preparing European cities and regions for security crises, ensuring the exercise of freedoms of assembly and expression at local level, housing crisis and drug-related problems in European cities.
The Congress will also adopt a new European Charter on Youth Participation in Local and Regional Life and debate monitoring reports on the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Greece, Republic of Moldova, Poland and Slovenia, as well as on the observation of local and county elections in Finland on 13 April 2025, and State elections in Hamburg (Germany) on 2 March 2025.
Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset and UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association Gina Romero will address the session. Among invited guests are Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government of Malta Alison Zerafa Civelli on behalf of the Committee of Ministers’ Presidency; Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine Oleksii Kuleba (online); Minister of the Interior of Greece Theodoros Livanios; Slovenia’s State Secretary of Public Administration Jure Trbič; Mayor of Budapest (Hungary) Gergely Karácsony; Mayor of Kyiv and President of the Association of Ukrainian Cities Vitaliy Klitschko; Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi; Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of Kherson Regional State (Military) Administration (Ukraine), as well as Georg Maier, Minister for Home Affairs and Local Government of Thüringia (Germany).
Among side events of the session are a signing ceremony of memorandums of understanding with the cities of Kyiv and Rivne, as well as the Lviv Agglomeration, on organising citizens’ assemblies in 2025 and 2026 (28 October, 13:00, Lobby of the Hemicycle); a panel discussion with Belarusian democratic forces “When passports become weapons: Local authorities’ response to transnational repression against Belarusians abroad” (29 October, 12:45-14:00, Room 10); and an event organised by the Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities to explore ways to better involve young children in local democratic life (29 October, 12:45, Room 6).
Opening of the 49th Session of the Congress by the President Marc Cools
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