The Congress organised a Conference “Successful territorial reform” on Friday 5 May 2017 in Eupen, Belgium. The event brought together some 60 participants – politicians, practitioners and academic experts – including the Finnish State Secretary at the Ministry of Local Government and Public Reforms, Jari Partanen, the Armenian First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development, Vache Terteryan, and Congress member Luc Martens, Vice-President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, and President of the Association of Flemish Towns and Municipalities. The Conference followed up on the report on “Autonomy and borders in an evolving Europe”, adopted by the Congress in March 2016. The participants discussed the causes, methods and good practice of subnational reform in Council of Europe member States, in four round tables, moderated by Alexander Homann, Head of the representation of the German Community of Belgium in Brussels. On the eve of the Conference, on Thursday 4 May 2017, the Congress Governance Committee also met in Eupen, under the presidency of Jean-Louis Testud (France, EPP-CCE).

Opening session
Presentation by Mr Luís Leite Ramos & News

Round Table 1 - Reforming to consolidate power ?
Presentation by Mr Francesco Palermo
Presentation by Mr Jari Partanen
Presentation by Mr Liam Kenny

Round Table 2 - Reform for better governance
Presentation by Mr Jens Woelk
Presentation by Mr Vache Terteryan
Presentation by Mr Franz Majcen
Presentation by Mr Paul Rowsell
Presentation by Ms Eva Maria Belser

Round Table 3 - Accommodating strong regional identities
Presentation by Mr Serafin Pazos-Vidal

Round Table 4 - Reforming to consolidate power?
Presentation by Mr Luc Martens
Presentation by Ms Bettina Petersohn