At the opening of its 50th session in Strasbourg today, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe has elected Gunn Marit Helgesen (Norway, EPP/CCE) its President for a term of two and a half years.
Gunn Marit Helgesen is a member of the County Council of Telemark, Norway, and she was its chairperson from 2003 to 2011. She has also served as President of the Norwegian Association of local and regional authorities. She has been head of the Norwegian delegation to the Congress and a Congress Vice-President since 2012. She was also President of the Chamber of Regions from 2016 to 2021.
In a statement after her election, Helgesen said: "In these challenging times, it is more important than ever to revitalise local and regional democracy, uphold our values at the level closest to citizens, and keep Europe united in the face of global threats."
From Porsgrunn to President of Congress
As a member of the Congress' monitoring committee Helgesen was a rapporteur on the application of the European Charter of local self-government in several countries, including Armenia, Cyprus, Ireland, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. At different times, she represented the Congress in the Council of Europe's Venice Commission and North-South Centre.
From 1993 to 2009, she was substitute member to the Norwegian Parliament from Telemark County. She has also served as local councillor in the City of Porsgrunn.
Helgesen is a qualified chemical engineer and previously worked as a senior engineer at Statoil and Norsk Hydro.
Current session of Congress gets underway
At this week's session, the Congress welcomes new national delegations from 46 member states, each with a five-year term of office.
The session's agenda features debates on Russia's war of aggression and Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction at local and regional level, as well as on territorial organisation of power in Ukraine. Ensuring free local and regional elections, tackling violence against elected officials, safeguarding local democracy in Georgia and delivering social rights at local and regional levels, implementing the European Convention on Human Rights by local and regional authorities, as well as the use of artificial intelligence, health access under pressure and regional history teaching are among thematic highlights of the session. Interesting debates such as "From borders to boroughs: global movements, local responses" and "International disorder, regional consequences" are equally on the agenda.
The Congress will also discuss reports on the application of the European Charter of local self-government in Lithuania and Monaco, and on the observation of local elections in Estonia, North Macedonia, San Marino and Kosovo*.
Also of interest to many participants and the public will be a new Council of Europe-European Union project, the Local Observatory on reform agendas implementation (LORAI), which will be launched to support local self-government reforms in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia).
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
The Council of Europe's support for Ukraine
