On 9 April, the Conference bringing together all the international NGOs enjoying participatory status with the Council of Europe held elections to designate its governing bodies. Gerhard Ermischer was re-elected President to lead the Conference for another three year mandate together with a new Standing Committee composed of five women and five men.
“We are experiencing challenging times, marked inter alia by the recent COVID crisis, Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine and a steadily hostile environment for civil society in many countries”, Mr Ermischer said. “But much has been done to foster the Conference of INGO’s (CINGO's) role and it is now increasingly consulted on new instruments and policies, including by the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly. The participation of civil society in the Council of Europe activities was recognised as an important objective at the Reykjavik Summit but we now need to climb a steep mountain”.
Work will start immediately on the preparation of the three-year strategic plan for 2025-2027 to be finalised and adopted at CINGO's next session in the Autumn.
