"The threats and challenges we face today affect all our societies without exception and all levels of governance," announced Congress President Leendert Verbeek at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) held on 2 and 3 March in the Hague (the Netherlands).

In order to face this challenge, the Council of Europe has been able to endow its institutional architecture with two political assemblies that carry the voice of the European peoples: the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress.

The President of the Congress advocates strengthening the role of these two assemblies, including the Congress, whose role is to promote and contribute to the development of human rights on the territories of the 46 member states. According to him, the activities of the Congress should be strengthened, particularly with regard to the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights concerning local and regional authorities, or with regard to the promotion of human rights institutions at local level.

The President welcomed the contribution of Fiona O'Loughlin, the Parliamentary Assembly's rapporteur for the Reykjavik Summit, who stressed the importance for the two assemblies, "as political bodies representing European citizens", to "play a more important role in participating in the general activities of the Organisation and in serving as multipliers of its standards and values at national level". Leendert Verbeek recalls that the Congress was created by the Parliamentary Assembly, whose members were convinced of the need for a territorial democracy closer to the citizens.

More here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/leendert-verbeek-calls-for-strengthening-the-two-political-assemblies-of-the-council-of-europe%C2%A0