CLRAE

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Congress of the Council of Europe is one of the institutions of the Council of Europe. It holds its plenary meetings at the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, where its Secretariat is located.

The origins of the Congress are in the Conference of Local Authorities of Europe, which was established as a consultative body within the Council of Europe in 1957. This later became the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities, combining elected representatives of local authorities, cities and regions. This body drafted the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which was opened for signature by the Council of Europe's member states on 15 October 1985. In this legal instrument the signatory member States undertake to recognise the principle of local self-government in domestic legislation and to observe certain standards of local democracy.

In 1994, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe succeeded the former Standing Conference It comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions.

The Congress is therefore a political assembly very similar to the Parliamentary Assembly. Both are consultative bodies composed of representatives appointed by the member states and holding an electoral mandate. The Congress currently has 315 full members and 315 substitutes, who are grouped by national delegations and also by political groups.

Each member state decides upon its method of appointing its representatives to the Congress; however, the representatives must be chosen from among the elected members of the local and regional authorities, and the political composition of each national delegation must be proportionate to the numbers of the different political parties and others (including Independents} within those bodies.

Among other activities, the Congress sends rapporteurs every year to report on the situation of local democracy in member states and also sends delegations to observe local and regional elections around Europe. It advises the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on all aspects of local and regional policy.

A draft European Charter of Regional Self-Government is in preparation.