41st Session - 26 to 28 October 2021

Strasbourg, France 19 October 2021

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41st Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, 26-28 October 2021

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities held its 41st session, from 26 to 28 October 2021, for the first time in person in Strasbourg since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Within the context of the sanitary crisis, the Congress held a debate on the different levers of the "Post-Covid Recovery" with Carlo Monticelli, appointed Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank, and Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen, Deputy Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The challenges of migration issues were discussed during two debates: "Regions and Diaspora" and "Migration: Continuing Challenges for Cities and Regions", with the participation of Ambassador Drahoslav Štefánek, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on Migration and Refugees, and Erini Dourou, Congress Rapporteur on Migration Issues.

The Congress adopted the monitoring reports on Albania, Cyprus, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, and Spain as part of its monitoring of the compliance of Council of Europe member states with the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

On the agenda were also debates on “Working conditions of elected representatives in times of hate speech and fake news on the internet”, “Home-sharing platforms: challenges and opportunities for municipalities", "Inter-regional and cross-border co-operation for better territorial integration in Europe” and "Lifelong education for lifelong employment of young generations: a challenge for the regions". In addition, within the framework of the Congress initiative "Rejuvenating Politics", youth delegates presented projects from the field.

Among the personalities invited, in addition to the appointed Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank and the Deputy Secretary General of the OECD, were the Deputy Minister of the Interior of Albania, Romina Kuko, the Minister of the Interior of Cyprus, Nicos Nouris, the State Secretary responsible for Security Policy of Hungary, Péter Sztáray, the Deputy Minister for Local Self Government of North Macedonia, Zoran Dimitrovski, and the Secretary General for territorial coordination of Spain Miryam Alvarez Páez .

The ceremony for the 7^th edition of the Dosta! - Congress Prize was also held. The prize was awarded to the municipalities of Torres Vedras (Portugal), Argostoli (Greece) and Salford (United Kingdom) for their initiatives aimed at ensuring the inclusion of Roma and Travelers.

Agenda and documents: webpage of the 41st Session
Live webcast (as from 26 October 2021 10h00 CET – the link will be available on the Session webpage)
Interpretation: English, French, Italian, German, Russian and Turkish

Назад Albania: substantial progress made, but responsibilities between central and local levels need to be clearly divided

Albania has achieved substantial decentralisation progress, but more efforts, particularly in clarifying responsibilities between central and local authorities, need to be made, concludes a report approved by the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities today.

The report and recommendation presented by the co-rapporteurs Xavier Cadoret (France, SOC/G/PD) and Carla Dejonghe (Belgium, ILDG) welcomed the successful implementation of the 2015-2020 comprehensive decentralisation and local governance strategy and the ensuing reforms of the legislation on local self-government.

Carla Dejonghe noted that there is considerable room for improvement, in particular in further clarifying the allocation of functions between central and local levels since the powers delegated to the local authorities are exercised under the close supervision of various ministries, limiting local authorities’ room for initiative. They also regretted that the regional tier of government has not benefited fully from territorial reforms of recent years.

Xavier Cadoret underlined that municipalities have insufficient financial resources to meet their needs and human resources continue to pose problems, particularly in rural areas

In its recommendation, the Congress invites the government to continue the decentralisation process and to further harmonise the legislation on the division of responsibilities between central and local authorities. The national authorities are recommended to revise the local government salary structure to allow more flexibility for recruiting and retaining qualified staff.

Albania is also urged to ratify the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority

Albanian Deputy Minister of Interior Romina Kuko addressed the Congress plenary after the vote and replied to the questions from the floor.

Press contact: Dušan Vojnović, Press Officer, Directorate of Communications, Council of Europe, tel. +33 6 61 03 83 00

Videos: Debate | Speech Romina Kuko

*** 41st Session of the Congress***
Agenda - Documents : ENG | FRA | DEU | ITA | RUS
File 41st Session : live webcast, photos, videos and useful links