"Across Europe, we are witnessing growing social tensions and unrest in many of our cities. We cannot ignore the reasons and concerns that fuel much of this unrest," stressed Congress President Gunn Marit Helgesen at the opening of the 51st session, in Strasbourg on 27 October 2026. "The rising cost of living, the housing crisis, the difficulties facing students and young people, and widening inequalities are putting enormous pressure on our communities. Our responsibility as elected representatives is not only to listen, but to respond with concrete solutions. Above all, we must rebuild trust between citizens and those who govern them. And this is where local and regional democracy has a crucial role to play," she said.
The agenda of the session - which runs from 27 to 29 October 2026 - features a debate on Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and financing Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction, with the participation of Ukraine's Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Vitalii Bezghin and Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank Carlo Monticelli.
A debate on early-warning instruments against democratic backsliding at local and regional levels, an adopted submission to the case of the imprisoned Mayor of Istanbul İmamoğlu v. Türkiye, which is before the European Court of Human Rights, New Democratic Pact for Europe and an exchange of views with Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset are among the session's highlights.
On Thursday 29 October, the Congress will hold an urgent debate and adopt a recommendation "Towards a healthy environment from the local level up", focusing on the need for a legally binding instrument of the Council of Europe recognising the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The Congress will adopt its priorities for 2026-31, exchange with Interior Minister of Monaco Lionel Beffre, on behalf of his country's Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, and hold a debate on the role of regions in transfrontier cooperation and building democratic resilience in times of crisis, with the participation of head of the Kherson regional military administration Oleksandr Prokudin.
Other highlights include debates on guaranteeing the freedoms to speak and to meet for LGBTI people in local communities, coping with coastal erosion due to rising sea levels, tackling school absenteeism, demographic decline as a challenge for territories, overtourism and depopulation, creating new opportunities for rural communities suffering from regional exodus, the cost of crises: financing local resilience; and on contested memories: how local and regional authorities can manage controversial cultural heritage.
Also addressing the session will be Slovenia's Minister of Local Self-Government, Cohesion and Regional Development Monika Kirbiš Rojs; OSCE High Commissioner on national minorities Christophe Kamp; Sophie Panonacle, an MP from Gironde in France; Regional Minister for EU and External Foreign Action for Catalonia in Spain Jaume Duch; Mayor of Capri, Italy, Paolo Falco; Mayor of Saint-Tropez, France, Sylvie Siri; Mayor of Guben, Germany, Fred Mahro; Mayor of Riccione, Italy, Daniela Angelini; Mayor of Asker, Norway, Lene Conradi; Deputy Mayor of Riga, Māris Sprindžuks; President of the Council of Europe's Group of States against corruption (GRECO) David Meyer; President of the Association of European border regions Joris Bengevoord; Mayor of Adıyaman and member of the executive board of the Union of municipalities of Türkiye Abdurrahman Tutdere; Chair of the European Cross-Border Platform of the European Committee of the Regions Pavel Branda; Managing Director of Rainbow Cities Network Manuel Rosas Vazquez; and Claude Barbier, a lecturer at the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.
The Congress will also debate reports on the application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in Albania, Switzerland and the smallest European states. It will also examine reports on the observation of elections for the President of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, local elections in the Netherlands, partial elections in 10 municipalities of Serbia, and on local elections in England and elections for the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments in the United Kingdom.
Opening of the 51st Session of the Congress by President Gunn Marit Helgesen
