The Council of Europe signed joint agreements with twelve municipalities from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on 1 March 2017. As stated by Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Congress, this will provide the mayors, as local leaders, with the “opportunity to break new ground and implement concrete actions to improve the quality of local democracy in their countries”. Mr Kiefer added that “we, at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, are proud to provide you with the political platform and operational framework to embark on this journey”.
The agreements clearly show that the mayors “all share the same values – commitment to fighting corruption, and enhancing transparency and good governance in their administrations”, as highlighted by Jose Mendes Bota, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to the Council of Europe. Previously in the day, the mayors had the opportunity to exchange views on their initiatives with peers, national associations of local and regional authorities and experts, inspiring them to be further engaged in the next steps.
The “Local initiatives on ethical governance and transparency” in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine include funding, expert support and peer reviews. They are being supported by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities within the thematic programme “Strengthening institutional frameworks for local governance”, implemented jointly with the Council of Europe Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform, Directorate General of Democracy. This programme is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe, and implemented by the Council of Europe, through the Programmatic Co-operation Framework for 2015-2017 for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus.
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