Ilsur Metshin will represent Russia in the Council of Europe

(KZN.RU, 25 July). The candidacy of Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, was approved as a part of the Russian delegation to participate in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in the 2016-2020 years. The appropriate decree was signed by Vladimir Putin, the President of Russian Federation, on July 21 (№217-rp).

Ilsur Metshin will represent Russia in the Chamber of Local Authorities. Nine people had entered it, including Vsevolod Belikov, the head of St. Petersburg's intra-city municipal education of municipality the Finland District, Olga Germanova, the head of Kursk, Anatoly Lokot, the Mayor of Novosibirsk, as well as representatives of Ulyanovsk, Chelyabinsk, Tomsk Region and Stavropol Krai.

Nine Russian representatives in the Chamber of Regions of the Congress included in the delegation, along with the heads of municipalities. Among them Dmitry Azarov, the chairman of the Federation Council Committee on the Federal Structure, the Regional Policy, Local Government and Northern Affairs, Zinaida Dragunkina, the chairman of Federation Council Committee on the Science, Education and Culture, as well as the governors of Leningrad, Vladimir, and Smolensk regions, representatives of Karachaevo-Cherkessia Republic, the Republic of Bashkortostan and Omsk region.

The delegation to attend the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is formed by state-member every four years. “Ilsur Metshin as the Russian representative in the Council of Europe will have a difficult task to protect and defend the country's interests in the conditions of the current international situation. The figure of the Mayor of Kazan will be recognized in the Council of Europe, for the head of Tatarstan's capital already has experience in large international organizations (Co-President of UCLG and President of the Eurasian department)”, says Lyudmila Andreeva, the secretary of the Kazan City Hall.

In general, as Lyudmila Andreeva marked, authoritative structure, formed to participate in the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, includes the heads of municipalities with a clear political position, and well versed in the problems of the local authorities and finding the right solutions. This experience will be useful for work in the Council of Europe.

For reference

The Council of Europe is the oldest on the continent international political organization established on May 5, 1949. There are 47 states in the Council of Europe. The Russian Federation became a member state of the Council of Europe on February 28, 1996.

The Committee of Ministers, The Parliamentary Assembly, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights are part of the structure of the principal authorities of the Council of Europe.

According to the Charter, the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realizing the ideals and principles, which are their common heritage, and facilitating their economic and social progress.