At its meeting on 31 October 2019, the Bureau of the Congress appointed Professor Francesco Palermo as the new Constitutional Adviser to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. Member of the Congress Group of Independent Experts on the European Charter of Local Self-Government since 2011, Mr. Palermo is Full Professor at the University of Verona (Comparative Public Law) and Director of the Institute for Comparative Federalism, Eurac Research Institute in Bolzano (Italy). His specific fields of research include also minority issues, constitutional transition in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and regionalism. As new Constitutional Adviser, Professor Palermo will, in particular, provide expertise for the cooperation of the Congress in the frame of the Council of Europe Venice Commission.