Spring Session of the Congress

Strasbourg, 15-17 March 2006

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe  hold its spring session in Strasbourg from 15 to 17 March 2006. Debates on new information technology and cultural diversity were among the highlights of the session.

 New instruments to promote European cultural diversity will be considered, including the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society and the UNESCO Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expression.

On the occasion of the Romanian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, Liviu Radu, Romanian Secretary of State for the Reform in the Public Administration,  addressed the participants.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, made a speech, which was followed by a discussion with Congress members.

Monitoring of the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was discussed in the presence, inter alia, of Karl-Heinz Lambertz, Prime Minister of the Government of Belgium's German-Speaking Community, and Farid Mukhametshin, Chair of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian Federation). (more...)


 
Liviu Radu: ''The Romanian Government is strongly committed to carrying out a consistent public administration reform''
''The project of the Black Sea Euroregion is of a crucial importance for Europe, given its links with Central Europe and taking into account its geographical location,'' stated Liviu Radu, Secretary of State from the Romanian Ministry of Administration and the Interior. He stressed that the Romanian side offered to host the conference ''on interregional cooperation in the Black sea basin'', in Constanta, on March 30.
Speech

Alvaro Gil Robles: ''Local and regional authorities have a vital role to play in the protection of minorities''
''Addressing the Congress' spring session, Alvaro Gil Robles, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, pointed to the fundamental role played by local and regional authorities in the protection of human rights, and especially in safeguarding the rights of minorities such as the Roma population and foreign residents. Also emphasising the importance of local and regional police forces, he said that local and regional authorities, those closest to citizens, were in the best position to solve any practical problems people had relating to security and freedom. His address was followed by an open discussion

The Congress adopted 3 reports : ''Young people and new information technology”, “Contribution of local and regional authorities to promote the efficiency of the work of the North South Centre” and “Regional typical products facing globalisation


 

Interview with Dario Ghisletta, Swiss member of the Chamber of Local Authorities: ''When talking to young people about democracy and local life, we must use the technologies familiar to them''
 

Interview with Claude Frey,  of Switzerland, President of the Council of Europe's North-South Centre,Claude Frey says that local and regional authorities play a vital part in promoting development education
 

 

 

 

AGENDA

   Distribution of work
Agendas of the joint meeting of the Standing Committee and the Committee on culture and education and of the Chambers
 

DOCUMENTS

  Adopted texts
Information documents
Biographies
 

OTHER LANGUAGES

  German
Italian
Russian

SPEECH

  Speech by Liviu Radu
Speech by Claude Frey (French)