In his communication to the Committee of Ministers on 18 April 2018, the Secretary General of the Congress Andreas Kiefer presented the recent activities of the Congress in particular the plenary session in March 2018 as well as the initiative taken by the Congress to reform its structures and functioning. “In view of the difficult financial situation of the Council of Europe, measures to safeguard the Congress’ institutional role and functioning are inevitable” he said. At the November 2018 Session, the Congress will discuss proposals in this respect. The Secretary General underlined that “this reform shall make the Congress ever more relevant and effective and allow it to fully perform its statutory functions, its monitoring and election observation missions, deliver meaningful and useful recommendations to member States and contribute as a body of elected local and regional politicians to the implementation of the values of the Council of Europe on the ground.”
He also presented the most recent Congress publications on "Misuse of administrative resources in electoral campaigns", on Transparency and citizen participation, on management of change and on Human Rights at the local level.
This exchange of view of the Congress Secretary General with the delegates of the national governments takes place twice a year and is part of the political dialogue that the Congress has developed with the Member States.
