The Foreign Ministers who met at the Ministerial Summit in Helsinki, Finland, on 17 May 2019, underlined in their final declaration that: “The Organisation’s strength is the periodic and thorough assessment of all member States, in line with established legal criteria. The Committee of Ministers, its intergovernmental organ, the Parliamentary Assembly, a unique pan-European forum for interparliamentary dialogue and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities carry out monitoring functions and act as guardians of human rights and democracy in their areas of competence. We also highly value the role of the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Venice Commission as well as other independent bodies. We recognise the valuable contribution of each of these bodies and mechanisms in upholding our common legal standards.”
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the assembly responsible for ensuring the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. This international convention guarantees the proper functioning of local democracy in Europe and commits the 47 Council of Europe member States, all of which have ratified it, to respect its principles.