The Centre of Expertise for Multilevel Governance at the Congress has released its 2024 annual report presenting its co-operation and assistance activities in countries across Europe.
In 2024, the Centre implemented 18 projects in 21 member states, for a combined value of €13 million. In capacity building activities organised by the Centre, more than 2 000 people developed knowledge and skills related to Council of Europe standards. 16 legal opinions and policy advice documents were delivered to seven member states (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Serbia and Ukraine). A new Accreditation Platform for the European Label of Governance Excellence (ELoGE) was established under the aegis of the Congress Bureau, and the Label was awarded to 31 municipalities in Finland, Italy, Spain and Türkiye.
In Ukraine, the Centre pursued, in partnership with the Verhovna Rada, the High-Level Dialogue between the Council of Europe and Ukrainian national and local authorities on good democratic governance, mapping a vision for the country’s post-war multi-governance system and the recovery of local self-government. The Centre also assisted the Ukrainian authorities in updating the long-term vision for multilevel governance system, with the revision of the country’s 2014 Decentralisation Reform Concept. Also in 2024, with Centre support, 10 Ukrainian municipalities (Bilhorod–Dnistrovskyi, Bilshivtsi, Dunaivtsi, Fastiv, Kamianets–Podilskyi, Kyiv, Poltava, Shpola, Ternopil and Zviahel) implemented local initiatives to foster democratic innovations and open government, as well as to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights.
The Centre provided expertise to support the preparation of a new draft Law on Local Self-Government in Armenia. In Malta, the Centre contributed to the development of a National Training Strategy and the establishment of a National Training Council. In Bulgaria, Centre support led to the adoption of a Roadmap for Fiscal Decentralisation, while in Hungary the Centre facilitated a local finance working group to promote data-driven reform of local government finances. In Albania, the Collaboration Platform has been relaunched with Centre support to facilitate multilevel governance cooperation across public administration. A multilateral, multi-stakeholder approach to enhance the capacities of local public authorities to manage migration was implemented in Poland, Republic of Moldova and Romania, and a new project to strengthen human resource management in local authorities was launched in Serbia.
Under the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the Centre co-organised a conference on “Multilevel Governance for Ensuring Democracy and Strengthening Resilience at all levels of governance”, held in Vilnius in September 2024. Citizens Assemblies organised by the Centre in Banja Luka and Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) have led to action plans to promote youth entrepreneurship and local economic development being prepared for discussion by the respective local councils. Citizen Assemblies were also organised in Georgia, where a curriculum on human rights and anti-discrimination was developed with the National Association of Local Authorities in Georgia (NALAG). A guide on how to organise a citizen assembly was also published and is being promoted in a regional project across South-East Europe.
Contact: Congress Communication Unit, tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 38 90
