“At a time of the continued war of aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, at a time of growing concerns over democratic backsliding in some member states, we must stand firm in defence of democratic values in our towns, cities and regions,” stressed Congress President Marc Cools at the opening of the 47th session in Strasbourg.
The agenda of the 3-day session, which was opened to the sound of the European and Ukrainian anthems played by musicians from the Strasbourg University Orchestra, features debates on protecting Ukraine’s cultural heritage during Russia’s war of aggression, with the online participation of Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi, as well as on the key challenges faced by local and regional authorities over the past five years. A special debate on Wednesday 16 October will mark the 10th anniversary of the pioneering ‘Rejuvenating Politics’ initiative aimed at engaging youth delegates in the Congress work and integrating youth perspectives in local and regional democratic life. An urgent debate on the situation in Georgia in the light of its democratic backsliding will be held on Thursday 17 October.
The Congress will also debate monitoring reports on the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Finland, Iceland, Latvia and Malta, as well as on the observation of local elections in Türkiye on 31 March 2024. Congress members will exchange views with Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset, who will address the Congress for the first time since taking office, as well as with Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of the Interior Arnoldas Abramavičius on behalf of his country’s Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, and President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Theodoros Rousopoulos.
Ageing communities (ensuring quality social care for older persons), fostering circular economy at the grassroots (with an emphasis on reuse and recycling of resources to fight overconsumption), the situation of regions with special status, local democracy as a pillar of peace and stability in South-East Europe, the role of local elected representatives in protecting human rights and the role of regions in Ukraine’s reconstruction, as well as efforts to expand the outreach of the Local Self-Government Charter to cities in non-member states (such as Kazakhstan, Mauritania and Morocco) are among other themes of session debates.
Among other invited guests are Latvia’s Minister for Smart Administration and Regional Development Inga Bērziņa; Deputy Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalisation of Ukraine Anastasia Bondar; State Secretary to Finland’s Minister of Local and Regional Government Kristiina Kokko; Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (France) Mattias Guyomar; Chair of the Kharkiv Regional Council (Ukraine) and President of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils Tetyana Yehorova-Lutsenko; and Speaker of the Parliament of Åland (Finland) Jörgen Pettersson.
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Source link : https://www.coe.int/de/web/portal/-/european-towns-and-regions-standing-firm-for-democratic-values-congress-session-opens-in-strasbourg
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Publish date : 2024-10-15 10:14:00
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