The 45th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE Congress) started in Strasbourg. Mark Cools (Belgium) was elected President of the Congress with 150 “for” and 5 “against” votes at the plenary session of the session, with a 2.5-year mandate. Marc Cools was the Chair of the Independent and Liberal Democrat Group in the Congress.
In his speech, the newly elected president announced: “My goals for the presidency of the Congress are to strengthen the positions of the Congress as the second political chamber in the Council of Europe, to strengthen the role of the two elected assemblies, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress, in the decision-making processes of the Council of Europe, to ensure that the Congress is the center of the Council’s initiatives towards local democracy and that it receives sufficient funding for its activities.”
The fight against corruption and the protection of public ethics in communities, as well as developing urban diplomacy and actively involving Congress, are also priorities for the newly elected president. The presidents and vice-presidents of the two chambers of the Congress will also be elected at the plenary session of the Congress.
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Ouverture-de-la-seance-pleniere
The results will be precise on October 25. On October 25, during the plenary session of the Congress, the discussion of the report on the elections of the Yerevan City Council of Elders held on September 17 will take place. The nine-member delegation of the Congress was in Armenia on an observation mission on September 15-18.
It carried out an observation mission in 12 electoral districts of Yerevan. On October 26, the last day of the CoE Congress session, the discussion and voting of the statement “The humanitarian situation in Karabakh and neighboring cities and regions” will occur.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Strasbourg
