Secretary General Mori travelled to Kotor and Podgorica (Montenegro) on Tuesday 10 October to stress the importance of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the positive impact its implementation has on Council of Europe Member States. He also thanked the national and local public authorities for their involvement in the recent Congress monitoring of the Charter mission.
Secretary General Mori met with the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, the leadership of the Montenegro delegation to the Congress, the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro (UMM), NALAS (Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe) and ZELS (Association of the Units of Local Self-Government of the Republic of North Macedonia).
To illustrate the importance and impact of decentralization, Secretary General Mori spoke at the Western Balkans CORE2023 conference on “Growing Smart and Green: Local, Regional, European”, in Kotor (Montenegro), and emphasised the role of local and regional authorities in addressing climate change. He stressed the work of the Congress in support to local and regional authorities’ evolution towards greener practices and policies, referring to the revised European Urban Charter to be adopted at the 45th Congress Session in October 2023.
The Secretary General pointed out the role of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in giving the powers and the means to local authorities to implement change. He reminded the audience that 2/3rd of climate change mitigation measures is implemented at local level.