Georgian delegation composed of Ms. Tamar Taliashvili, Vice-President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Mr. Beka Davituliani, member of Georgian Delegation to Congress and Ms. Nino Kavtaradze – Deputy Head of Georgian Delegation to Congress participated in the meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which was held in Oslo, Norway.

One of the topics on the agenda was local and regional democracy in Europe, participants discussed monitoring reports submitted for adoption and monitoring reports in progress. One of the monitoring reports submitted for adoption was about local and regional democracy in the Russian Federation. The Georgian delegation, together with the representatives from Ukraine, protested the issue reflected in the above mentioned report, according to which Crimea was mentioned as the part of the Russian Federation.

As stated by Ms. Tamar Taliashvili:  “It is unacceptable to refer to Crimea as part of the Russian Federation’s territorial entity. We believe that Ukraine will reclaim occupied territories back from Russia, which we will always support“.  According to her, the agreement was reached with regard to consideration of the abovementioned reference, agreement will be later reflected in the document.

During the meeting participants also discussed following topics: Local and Regional Democracy in Europe, Compliance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government by Member States, Election observation missions, Cooperation with the European Charter for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Human rights at local and regional level.

Participants of the meeting also discussed place and date of the next meetings. It was mentioned that at the invitation of Mr. Kakha Kaladze, President of NALAG, on February 11, 2020 the meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the European Charter of Local Self-Government will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia.

It is noteworthy that Georgia will take over the chairmanship of Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers for a six-month term from November 2019 to May 2020.