On the second day of the 43rd session, the presidents of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Bernd Vöhringer, and the Chamber of Regions, Harald Sonderegger, opened the Chambers by expressing their support and solidarity with the people of Ukraine and highlighted the unique challenges the Congress faces with the Covid 19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and climate change. “The regions of Europe, alongside the national governments, are showing a remarkable solidarity and political will to stand united and act together in responding to these challenges”, said Mr Sonderegger. “It is evident and crystal clear to everybody that – beyond these three pillars of the Council of Europe - namely democracy, human rights and rule of law – peace and prosperity are at stake in Europe,” stated Mr Vöhringer.
During a thematic debate in the Chamber of Local Authorities on the revision of the European Urban Charter II, Congress rapporteur Anne Colgan (Ireland, ILDG) underlined that “European cities and towns must be strong and resilient enough to face the current crises. All these emergencies require risk prevention and mitigation strategy and require leaders at all levels of the management and governance of our cities and towns to work well together”. The debate was then followed by a detailed explanation of the draft report by Christina Binder.
The Chamber of Local Authorities also adopted reports on local self-government in Serbia and Albania. The report on Serbia was presented by rapporteur Carla Dejohnghe (Belgium, ILDG) and highlights several areas for improvement regarding voter registration, misuse of administrative resources and announcement of results, and recommends that presidential, parliamentary and local elections are not held on the same day. The information report on Albania, presented by rapporteur Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG), expresses general satisfaction with the orderly and well-administered elections, but draws attention to previous recommendations by the Venice Commission which remain to be addressed.
Meanwhile, in the Chamber of Regions, debates were held on regional identities and finances. Members debated the report “Regional identities: promoting dialogue and diversity in unity”, prepared by rapporteur Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Belgium (SOC/G/PD). "Successful regions are those that value their specificities while being open to others”, said Karl-Heinz Lambertz. The report proposes a "toolbox" of mechanisms to "ensure diversity and manage tensions peacefully".
Congress members also held a thematic debate on regional finances in response to crises, in which Senior Advisor and Head of Secretariat at the OECD Network on Fiscal Relations, Sean M. Dougherty, and Director General for Co-operation with the State and the European Union of Madrid, José Francisco Herrera Antonaya, participated. Lastly, the Chamber of Regions elected their new Vice President, Mr Teuvo Hatva.
During plenary session that afternoon, Congress members debated the report on “A fundamental right to the environment: a matter for local and regional authorities”, which aims to encourage an environmental reading of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and proposes an additional Protocol to the Charter that would enshrine the right of local authorities to participate in decision making on environmental matters. “Local authorities should have a fair share of competences to tackle environmental issues at local level, necessary funding and some leeway to perform those competences effectively”, declared co-rapporteur Belinda Gottardi, Italy (SOC/G/PD). Her co-rapporteur Levan Zhorzholiani, Georgia (EPP/CCE) also stressed that combating climate change is a shared responsibility of all levels of government. On this occasion, the third volume of the Human Rights Handbook for local and regional elected representatives on the environment and sustainable development was presented by Harald Bergmann (the Netherlands, ILDG).
In plenary, the Congress also adopted reports on the application of the European Charter of Local Self Government in Sweden and the Czech Republic. The co-rapporteurs of the report on Sweden, Harald Bergmann, (the Netherlands, GILD) and Matija Kovac, (Serbia, PPE/CCE) welcome high levels of election turnout and women elected at local level, but express concern that in some cases, new obligations were imposed by the state on municipalities and regions without sufficient discretion. The report on the Czech Republic was presented by Viorel Furdui (Moldova, ILDG) and Jani Kokko (Finland, SOC/G/PD) and was followed by a statement by David Sláma, Acting Deputy Minister of the Interior, Czech Republic.
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43rd Session
Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)