Increasing the Means of Action for Elected Representatives

The Congress is formed of elected representatives from local and regional authorities, who give it its own identity and political dimension within the Council of Europe. Coming from a range of different backgrounds, they make up an assembly that is committed to democracy at local and regional level. Elected representatives work for the Congress in addition to one or more mandates in their home countries. The vast majority of them are also engaged in a professional activity. This is a difficult context in which to work, and we must seek to help through the secretariat offering support and other innovative solutions.

In order to boost elected representatives’ means of political action, consideration must be given to:

• supporting political groups in order to promote political dialogue and stimulate propositions

• implementing a more flexible linguistic framework for statutory activities

• improving communication with elected representatives in the Parliamentary Assembly

• reinvigorating dialogue with the Committee of Ministers

In order to achieve this goal while remaining within our fixed budget, we must increase our responsiveness by eliminating needless bureaucracy.

The Secretariat of the Congress already has the authority and the commitment; given fresh impetus, it can reform those procedures that have become inefficient.