The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe
During twenty years the Government of Ukraine, local and regional authorities, as well as international community solve the issues related to overcoming of the consequences of the Chornobyl NPP accident. The catastrophe caused a significant damage to the population of the affected countries, their economy, culture and environment.
The Conference was held on March 2–3, 2006 in the Chornobyl Center in Slavutych. The representatives of local and regional authorities, national parliaments and councils of Ukraine; international and public organizations (the UDITE, European Commission, UNO), as well as experts from the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Belarus and other countries were present at the Conference.
Ukraine was represented by: V.I. Kholosha – Deputy Minister for Emergencies and Affairs of Population Protection from the Consequences of the Chornobyl Catastrophe; V.P. Udovichenko – Mayor of Slavutych, Member of the Congress of the Council of Europe, deputies to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, representatives of the Chornobyl Center, Chornobyl NPP, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
The forum was opened by the President of the Congress – Giovanni Di Stasi. The members of the conference discussed issues concerning overcoming of ecological, social, and economic consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe, as well as the role of local and regional authorities in solving this problem. Within the framework of the conference there were held two “round tables” which covered the issues of collaboration with international organizations regarding mitigation of the Chornobyl catastrophe consequences, development of cities, towns and villages after man-caused catastrophes.
On March 3, 2006, during the conference, the Slavutych City Council and Local Government Development Support Fund presented the project “Appeal of Slavutych” that determined the main principles of public authority bodies’ activities in the area of nuclear safety:
- Main role of National Councils
- Main role of local and regional authorities
- International collaboration solidarity
- Transparency and information
- Involving and consulting people
The participants of the conference thanked the Government of Ukraine, bodies of the local and regional authorities of the country that have been solving the problems of Chornobyl for twenty years. The Slavutych City Council and Local Government Development Support Fund also were grateful to the international community for its support to the suffered countries and, namely, for its help in building a new safe confinement for the Chornobyl Shelter Object.
