Marc Cools, President of the Congress


Marc Cools (Belgium, ILDG) was elected President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on 24 October 2023 for a mandate of two years and a half. He is currently the Communal Councillor of Uccle (Belgium) and Honorary Vice-President of the Brussels Parliament  and was previously the chair of the Independent and Liberal Democrat Group in the Congress.

Bernd Vöhringer, President of the Chamber of Local Authorities

Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE) was elected on 25 October 2023 President of the Chamber of Local Authorities of the Congress for a two-and-a-half-year term of office.

Назад Statement by the President of the Congress on the recent suspension of mayors in Turkey

Statement by the President of the Congress on the recent suspension of mayors in Turkey

Anders KNAPE, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, made the following statement:

"I express my grave concern about the decision of the Turkish authorities to suspend the elected mayors of three metropolitan cities in the south-east of the country, namely Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van, and to replace them with governors.

These mayors were elected as a result of the free and fair expression of the will of the Turkish people during the local elections held on 31 March 2019, which were observed by the Congress.

In the past, the Congress expressed its concern about the excessive use of legal proceedings against local elected representatives in Turkey and their replacement by appointed officials. This practice seriously undermines the proper functioning of local democracy.

I also refer to the Congress Recommendation on the situation of local elected representatives in Turkey, adopted in 2017, and I call on the Turkish authorities to address this issue without delay and in particular to restore the capacity of municipal councils to choose a replacement mayor.

The Congress Bureau will continue to follow this situation closely, in particular at its next meeting in Strasbourg on 11 September 2019. This situation will also be addressed during the monitoring mission planned from 1 to 4 October 2019 which aims to assess the implementation of the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Turkey.”

See also:

Presidency Strasbourg, France 20 August 2019
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The President's role is to direct the political activities of the Congress and its Chambers, to carry out Congress policy and to represent the Congress vis-à-vis other international organisations, within the context of the Council of Europe's general policy on external relations.

The President of the Congress ensures that decisions taken by the Congress are implemented and reacts on behalf of the Congress to current developments. He or she also presents the activities of the Congress and the texts that it has adopted to the Parliamentary Assembly and Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.  

Tunc Soyer, President of the Chamber of Regions

Tunc Soyer (Türkiye, SOC/G/PD) was elected on 25 October 2023 President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress for a two-and-a-half-year term of office.