42nd Session of the Congress: situation in Ukraine; local democracy in Germany, Luxembourg, Turkey and the United Kingdom; fake news, threats and violence against mayors in the current crises in Europe

42nd Session 15 March 2022 Strasbourg, France

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe held its 42nd Session from 22 to 24 March 2022, in Strasbourg, France. A debate on the situation in Ukraine took place on Tuesday afternoon, March 22nd, and the Congress adopted an institutional declaration. On this occasion,...

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War in Ukraine

Council of Europe Congress condemns war against Ukraine and calls on Russian Federation to meet its obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law

42nd Session 22 March 2022 Strasbourg, France

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on 22 March 2022 unanimously adopted a Declaration condemning the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine as a blatant breach of international law. The debate was preceded by a remote exchange of views with the Ukrainian...

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Congress holds debates on the war in Ukraine, local democracy in Germany and involving children in sustainable development

42nd Session 23 March 2022 Strasbourg, France

“We are meeting at a time when a Council of Europe member state, Ukraine, is the victim of an act of war committed by a former member state, the Russian Federation, said Congress President Leedert Verbeek at the opening of the 42nd session. “This new reality has produced the opposite effect from...

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News

Back Thematic debate: Fake news, threats and violence – pressure on mayors in the current crises in Europe

Thematic debate: Fake news, threats and violence – pressure on mayors in the current crises in Europe

At the Spring Session of the Congress, the members of the Chamber of Local Authorities held a thematic debate, on 23 March 2022, entitled “Fake news, threats and violence - pressure on mayors in the current crises in Europe”.

“Local and regional politicians, mayors and councillors are increasingly exposed to hate speech and online disinformation, but also verbal or physical threats, especially during election campaigns. Exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and more recently by the Russia’s war on Ukraine, this phenomenon has a paralysing effect on our democracies and political life at local and regional levels,” highlighted Wilma Delissen Van Tongerlo (Netherlands, ILDG), who is Co-Rapporteur of a new Congress report currently in preparation.  

"Misinformation particularly affects young people who are more exposed to social networks. This leads to a loss of trust in democracy, more discrimination and hate speech, with a deleterious impact on young people," stressed Michael Bryan, youth delegate (United-Kingdom), calling for investment in information gathering and verification.

Ahead of this thematic debate, an inter-university study on this very topic, entitled "COUNTERFAKE - A scientific basis for a policy against fake news and hate speech", has been published and was presented during the meeting of the Chamber. Its findings, based on the experiences of local and regional politicians in Council of Europe member States, will be incorporated into the new report, to be prepared and discussed by the Congress Governance Committee at its June meeting.

See also :

 Mediabox interview with Prof. Dr. Robert Müller-Török and Prof. Dr. Alexander Prosser (Youtube)

 Video of the debate

For further information :

In order to explore how fake news and hate speech affect local democracy, the Congress engaged in a scientific co-operation project involving academics and experts from academic institutions in Ludwigsburg, Budapest, Bucharest, Kosice and Vienna. The Congress contributed to the design of the project as well as the distribution of the research questionnaire to all its members and young delegates. Nearly 200 Congress members shared their experiences.

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42nd Session:

Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)

42nd Session Strasbourg, France 23 March 2022
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Documents
Multimedia

 Mediabox interviews

 Multimedia (videos and photos)

Election

Chamber of Regions
Election of one vice-president

Candidate:


Governance Committee
Election of the 4th Vice-Chair

Candidate:

Russian Federation

In view of the decision of the Committee of Ministers of 16 March 2022, the Russian Federation ceases to be a member State of the Council of Europe as of 16 March 2022. The Congress website will be updated as soon as possible to reflect this new situation.

Contacts

Table Office
congress.session@coe.int