On 28 October 2025, on the sidelines of the 49th session in Strasbourg, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities signed bilateral memorandums of understanding with the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Rivne for the organisation of citizens’ assemblies in 2025 and 2026.
“The decision of these three cities to organise citizens’ assemblies demonstrates extraordinary leadership and courage. It shows that even under the most difficult circumstances, the voices of citizens must continue to be heard,” acknowledged Congress President Marc Cools opening the signing ceremony.
In their successive speeches, Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko, Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi as well as Acting Mayor of Rivne and Secretary of the City Council Viktor Shakyrzian underlined that deliberative democracy will enable local residents to have a say in important decisions for their cities. They stressed that enabling local decision making is even more important during wartime, where local elections cannot be held.
“Together, we send a strong message: Ukraine’s democracy thrives from the ground up, through its local leaders and citizens,” concluded President Cools.
The memorandums of understanding were signed as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” for 2023-2026 and within the project “Strengthening multilevel governance and local democracy to support Ukraine’s recovery”, implemented by the Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
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