Chamber of Local Authorities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Palace of Europe
Palace of Europe

The Chamber of Local Authorities is one of the two Chambers of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. The Chamber is the voice of local authorities (cities and municipalities) in the Council of Europe. It consists of 318 representatives from the Council’s 47 member states, who either hold a general local authority mandate from direct elections or are politically accountable to a directly elected assembly. The Chamber provides an opportunity for local officials to discuss common concerns, share their experiences and develop relevant policies.

The work of the Chamber is organised around four statutory committees. The Institutional Committee is in charge of the issues of local self-government: it monitors local and regional elections, issues reports, and draws up recommendations. The Culture and Education Committee works on the matters related to culture, education, media, youth, sport and communication. The Committee on Social Cohesion is responsible for the matters of employment, citizenship, migration, inter-community relations, social and gender equality, and solidarity. The Committee on Sustainable Development deals with environmental concerns, as well as town planning matters.

According to the new Charter of the Congress adopted on 2 May 2007 by the Committee of Ministers, the Chamber’s membership is based on the principles of balanced geographical distribution, equitable representation of the various types of local authorities and their political groups, as well as of equitable representation of women and men. The Chamber drafts reports, recommendations, resolutions and opinions on the issues of its concern and presents them to the Standing Committee of the Congress for adoption. The Chamber elects its President among its members for two years, and appoints the Bureau composed of the President and seven Vice-Presidents respecting as far as possible a fair geographic distribution among the member states. At the moment the Bureau is composed of (in order of protocol):

Ian Micallef, Malta (President); Dubravka Šuica, Croatia (Vice-President); Anders Knape, Schweden (Vice-President); Hilde Zach, Austria (Vice-President); Jean-Claude Frécon, France (Vice-President); Fabio Pellegrini, Italy (Vice-President); Emin Yeritsyan, Armenia (Vice-President); Onno van Veldhuizen, Netherlands (Vice-President).


The Chamber has a permanent Secretariat located at the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, which is headed by its Executive Secretary, currently Jean-Philippe Bozouls appointed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

The Chamber consists of 318 statutory members (representatives and substitutes) from:

[edit] References


v • d • e
Flag of Europe Institutions of the Council of Europe