The 46th plenary session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is currently underway in Strasbourg. Among the attendees are representatives from the Georgian delegation, including the NALAG vice-president and the Tbilisi City Council chairman, Giorgi Tkemaladze. The members of the representative bodies from Tbilisi, Senaki, and Ozurgeti – Otar Grigolia, Sevdia Ugrekhelidze, and Tatia Nikolashvili, along with Irakli Cheishvili, a member of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, are taking part in the session.

Georgia at the session is also represented by the head of the CORLEAP delegation, Zurab Abashidze, who serves as the deputy chairman of the Tbilisi City Council, along with the executive director of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia, Nino Rukhadze and the acting chairman of the legal affairs and human rights protection commission of the capital’s representative body, Archil Gorduladze.

The President of the Congress, Marc Cools, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, opened the plenary session. Following the opening, delegates debated the topic of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine. Concurrently, the session also saw a vote on the draft declaration concerning the protection of the rights of Ukrainian children.

During the session, participants delved into a range of crucial topics. These include the roles of local and regional authorities as actors and guarantors of the rule of law, environmental concerns, climate-related risks, the UN Future Summit, and the Draft Framework Convention on Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law.

As part of the 46th plenary session of the Congress, monitoring reports on the European Charter in the local governments of Italy, Norway, Andorra, Montenegro, France, and Croatia will be presented. Members of the Congress will also review and vote on the report from the local election observation mission in Moldova. Additionally, discussions are scheduled to take place on the topic of the role of local and regional authorities in supporting Belarusian democratic forces and civil society.