Congress of the Council of Europe

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

The logo of the Congress
Abbreviation	Congress
Formation	January 12, 1957; 60 years ago (1957-01-12)
Type	IGO
Headquarters	Strasbourg, France
Membership	47 European states
Official language	English, French
President	Jean-Claude Frecon
President of the Local Chamber	Anders Knape
President of the Regional Chamber	Gudrun Mosler-Törnström
Secretary-General	Andreas Kiefer
Parent organization	Council of Europe
Affiliations	European Union, Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Website	www.coe.int/congress
Formerly called	Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is the pan-European political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the forty-seven member states of the Council of Europe. Its role is to promote local and regional democracy, improve local and regional governance and strengthen authorities' self-government, according to the principles laid down in the European Charter of Local Self-Government. It is made up of two chambers, the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions and holds its plenary sessions twice a year at the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, where its permanent Secretariat is located.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities assembly is constituted by 648 members which hold elective office (they may be regional or municipal councilors, mayors or presidents of regional authorities) representing over 200,000 authorities in different states. It encourages the devolution and regionalization processes, as well as the trans frontier co-operation between cities and regions The Congress conducts regular monitoring visits to all member states to appraise their implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, observes the functioning of local and regional elections in its member states and creates international treaties that lay down common European standards to protect local authorities’ rights.

The present Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was established on 14 January 1994 with the Statutory Resolution 94(3) of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. However, the history of the Congress reflects the already fifty-year history of the development of local and regional democracy in Europe.

The Congress’ predecessor, the Conference of Local Authorities of Europe was first established at the Council of Europe in 1957. It held its first session on 12 January 1957 in Strasbourg presided by the prominent French statesman Jacques Chaban-Delmas, who was President of the Conference from January 1957 to January 1960. In 1975 the Committee of Ministers established the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe that brought together also representatives of European regions, not only local authorities, thus replacing and enhancing the Conference of Local Authorities. In 1979 it became the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. Six years later, in 1985, the Standing Conference adopted the European Charter of Local Self-Government, recognizing the increasing role of the development of local democracy, which has become one of the most important achievements of the organization. The Charter was opened for signature in October 1985 and has since been signed by all Council of Europe member states. In 1994 the Standing Conference asked the Committee of Ministers to further enhance its statute, and the Standing Conference was transformed into the present Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. In 2005, during the Warsaw Summit, the Heads of State and Government of the member states of the Council of Europe reasserted the importance of local and regional democracy for Europe and underlined the major role of the Congress in its mission, again supporting its mandate. In October 2010, the Congress adopted a comprehensive reform of its structures and activities meant to increase the impact of its action and make it more effective and more relevant to European citizens and their elected representatives. In particular, the structural changes included the creation of three new committees, to replace the existing previous four: a Monitoring Committee, a Governance Committee and a Current Affairs Committee. Moreover, a Statutory Forum was set up, the mandate of Congress members extended from two to four years, and the 30-per cent requirement for women’s representation in national delegations applied also to substitute members. The role of the Bureau as the executive body of the Congress was strengthened, and the adopted texts subject to a clearer and more concrete follow-up procedure. In the light of this reform, the Committee of Minister adopted a revised version of the Statutory Resolution and the Charter of the Congress in January 2011. The Congress adopted its new Rules of Procedure in March 2012. In October 2012 it adopted its priorities 2013-2016. These priorities are focused on 5 areas: monitoring of local and regional democracy, observation of local and regional elections, targeted post-monitoring and post-observation assistance, the local and regional dimension of human rights and streamlined thematic activities.