The role of Local Democracy Agencies in the process of democratization in the Balkans and in the South Caucasus was underlined by the French Minister for Local Authorities and President of the Alsace Region, Philippe Richert, in his allocution to the 20th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
The 20th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe was held in Strasbourg in the last February.
At the top of the agenda there was debates on human rights issues at local level, in particular the situation of Roma in Europe. An urgent debate was dedicated to the role of the Congress in the context of the current reform process of the Council of Europe.
Congress members also examined several reports on territorial democracy in Turkey, Romania, Austria and Malta as well as the report on the observation of local elections in Ukraine, held in October 2010.
Among the other guest speakers, there were EU Commissioner responsible for Regional Policy, Johannes Hahn, Council of Europe Secretary General, Thorbjorn Jagland, and Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg.