On February 11 the remote meeting of the Monitoring Committe of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was held.

The Co-Chair of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Head of Armenian delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Head of Union of Communities of Armenia Emin Yeritsyan attended the meeting.

During the meeting of the committe, the Secretary General of the Congress of the Council of Europe Andreas Kiefer informed that during this period, in the conditions of the epidemic, the Congress held various seminars and webinars in the member states.

Andreas Kiefer said he hopes that at least in the second half of the year they will be able to organize the work in terms of physical presence in Strasbourg. The Secretary of Congress expressed hope that the Congress family would soon be reunited.

Congress Monitoring Committee adopted a report on the “Recurring Issues Based on Assessments Resulting from Congress Monitoring and Election Observation Missions (Reference Period 2017-2020)” together with a resolution and recommendation.

The report was presented by co-rapporteurs Leendert Verbeek (Netherlands, SOC/G/PD) and Stewart Dickson (United Kingdom, ILDG) and show that the major compliance issues with the Charter pointed out in the first report of 2017 remain relevant.

''Regretfully, financial resources, division of competences, consultation, and applicability of the Charter – are still the same ‘pain’ points that need to be closely followed in further monitoring activities,” stated rapporteur Laeender Verbeek.

The Committee found systematic shortcomings in meeting the requirements of Article 7 on the conditions of office of local elected representatives and that member states are increasingly facing difficulties in ensuring a safe political and legal environment for the exercise of local elected mandates.

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