Addressing a high-level session on how local open government can transform democracy, on 8 October 2025 as part of the 2025 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Global Summit in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain), Congress Vice-President Bernd Vöhringer (Germany, EPP/CCE) highlighted the importance of transparency, accountability and citizen participation at the grassroots. Referring to the Council of Europe’s long-established standards on local self-government and good democratic governance, Vice-President Vöhringer stressed that “strengthening democracy, bringing decision making closer to citizens, and building trust in public institutions are at the core of the Congress’ mandate.”
He pointed out that political assemblies such as the Congress or platforms like OGP are well placed to foster exchanges and share democratic innovations between local governments, as well as their partnership with local civil society organisations.
Mr Vöhringer also contributed to a session on national–local collaboration, where he stressed the importance of a culture of shared responsibility and multilevel governance, where open government becomes a collective practice to transform and bolster democracy from the bottom up. This, he added, “would undoubtedly contribute to the Council of Europe’s New Democratic Pact for Europe.”
