The newly elected Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Mathieu Mori, whose mandate will take effect in January 2023, reaffirmed his staunch support of Ukraine and its local and regional authorities.

Mathieu Mori announced this in a letter addressed to Viacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister for Community and Territorial Development.

“Protecting democracy, the rule of law and human rights, as well as ensuring recognition of the indispensable role of local and regional authorities in ensuring the functioning of democracy is more important than ever [...] I was impressed by the role of the 2014 decentralisation laws [in Ukraine — ed.], which allowed local and regional authorities to overcome the immediate consequences of the war. Your service played a crucial role in helping the country resist aggression. With the support of the political leadership of Congress, you can count on my determination to support Ukraine and its local and regional authorities,” the letter reads.

In August of this year, as a candidate for the post of Secretary General of the Congress, Mathieu Mori visited Ukraine and held a number of meetings, including at the Ministry for Community and Territorial Development. The parties exchanged ideas on the needs of Ukraine in wartime and during the period of reconstruction after the victory of our country, emphasising the importance of the comprehensive completion of the Reform of Local Self-Government and Territorial Organisation of Power.

As Decentralization previously reported, on 25 October 2022, at the 43rd session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (France), Mathieu Mori was appointed Secretary General of the Congress.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe is a consultative body of the Council of Europe, which has been acting since 1994 in the interests of more than 130,000 local and regional authorities of 46 member states of the Council of Europe, including Ukraine.

The priorities of the Congress include strengthening and protecting the interests of local and regional authorities, ensuring their participation in European integration processes, monitoring compliance by the member states of the Council of Europe with the European Charter of Local Self-Government and observing local and regional elections in these countries.

The functioning of the Congress is ensured by the Secretariat headed by the General Secretary, who is elected by the Congress for a term of 5 years. The Secretariat is headquartered in the Palace of Europe in Strasbourg, France.