 The logo of the Congress | |
| Abbreviation | Congress |
|---|---|
| Formation | 12 January 1957 |
| Type | IGO |
| Headquarters | Strasbourg, France |
Membership | 46 member states of the Council of Europe |
Official language | English, French |
| Marc Cools | |
Secretary General | Mathieu Mori |
President of the Chamber of Local Authorities | Bernd Vöhringer |
President of the Chamber of Regions | Tunç Soyer |
Parent organization | Council of Europe |
| Affiliations | European Union, Organization for Security and Co-operation 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-six 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 is constituted by 612 members which hold elective office (they may be regional or municipal councillors, mayors or presidents of regional authorities) representing over 130,000 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.