CoE/Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
Congress Session: Ukraine Rebuild, Georgia Democracy
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe will hold its 48th session from 25 to 27 March 2025 in Strasbourg, France. The session will include the first-ever participation of a delegation of Belarusian democratic forces, following the Congress Bureau’s decision in February 2025. On 25 March in the afternoon, H.R.H the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg will speak to Congress members about ending sexual violence in conflict zones, in dialogue with Chékéba Hachemi, President of “Stand, Speak, Rise Up” association.
The session’s agenda features a debate on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and Ukraine’s reconstruction, with the participation of Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Communities and Territorial Development Oleksii Riabykin, Chair of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Subcommittee on Administrative and Territorial Organisation and Local Self-Government Vitalii Bezghin and Special Envoy for the Reconstruction of Ukraine Davide La Cecilia (Italy). Other highlights include debates on the situation of local and regional democracy in Georgia, and on foreign interference in local and regional elections, with the participation of President of the Unghenti District Council Dionisie Ternovschi (Republic of Moldova). In addition, on 24 March the Congress Bureau will act on the proposal to hold a debate under urgent procedure focusing on the dismissal of mayors in Türkiye.
Homelessness in towns and cities, human trafficking for labour exploitation, violence against women in politics, water resources under stress and local and regional democracy around the world are among other themes of session debates, as are the Congress contribution to the UN Second World Summit for Social Development, the role of local elected representatives in protecting the environment, regional financial governance, the role of subregional-level authorities in countries with three levels of subnational government, and the role of regions in the EU accession process.
The Congress will also debate reports on the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Liechtenstein and in San Marino; on the observation of local elections in Podgorica (Montenegro) on 26 September 2024 and in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 6 October 2024; and of the fact-finding mission on electoral matters in Romania (23 October 2024).
Congress members will exchange views with Council of Europe Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty and Interior Minister of Luxembourg Léon Gloden on behalf of his country’s Committee of Ministers’ Presidency.
Among other invited guests are Andrea Belluzzi, Minister for Internal Affairs, Public Function, Institutional Affairs, Relations with the Castello Councils and Regulatory Simplification of San Marino; UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Olivier De Schutter; President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) Albert Castellanos Maduell; President of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS) Dušan Raičević; President of the European Confederation of Local Intermediate Authorities (CEPLI) André Viola; Chair of the Kharkiv Regional Council and President of the Ukrainian Association of District and Regional Councils Tetiana Yehorova-Lutsenko; and Vice-Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) Johannes M. Böhmer.
Also addressing the session will be Lord Provost of Glasgow City Council (United Kingdom) Jaqueline McLaren; Chair of the Standing Committee on Gender Equality of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) Flo Clucas; Mayor of Split (Croatia) Ivica Puljak; Mayor of Lusaka (Zambia) Chilando Chitangala; Mayor of Turbat (Pakistan) Balakhsher Baloch; Mayor of Waterloo (Iowa, United States of America) Quentin Hart; and Councillor for Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Şişli Municipality (Türkiye) Ahmet Oğuz Demir.
The Congress session is open to media upon prior accreditation.
The session can be followed live in English, French, German, Italian, Turkish and Ukrainian at https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/home.
Draft agenda and the session’s documents as well as videos and photos are available on the Session’s dedicated page.
https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/ukraine-s-reconstruction-local-and-regional-democracy-in-georgia-foreign-interference-in-local-elections-homelessness-in-european-cities-human-labour-trafficking-and-violence-against-women-in-politics-congress-48th-session-1