This year the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly , which is traditionally hosted by the French city of Strasbourg, has dispersed across the places of residence of the deputies of this authoritative inter-parliamentary association of states that are members of the Congress. The new format of communication via videoconference was chosen as the most optimal option for exchanging opinions in the current difficult conditions of the coronavirus pandemic. On the video link in Omsk was Vladimir Varnavsky, the permanent head of the Russian delegation in the Chamber of Regions of the CLRFSE since 1996 (the time of Russia’s entry into the Council of Europe), who, as always, took an active part in the meeting.

In accordance with the Charter of the CLRFSE, One of the main tasks of the Congress is to monitor local and regional democracy. And this circumstance was directly reflected in the agenda announced for discussion, first of all, in the report of the chairman of the political group on the activities of the Congress. However, the main attention of European deputies at the “absentia” parliamentary meeting was focused on the topic “Local and regional authorities in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.” Representatives of the legislative authorities of European countries discussed the role of local and regional authorities in the fight against the pandemic and its consequences, as well as the functioning of local democracy in this difficult not only sanitary and epidemiological, but largely political and economic situation.



About the past in the Omsk region, Vladimir Varnavsky told his European colleagues about the local government elections, commenting on the main conditions of their organization and results. The examples that he used in his speech, against the backdrop of speeches by representatives of various European countries, including Germany, Finland, Belgium, Ukraine, Great Britain, Denmark and others, among other things, were distinguished by the beneficial advantages of the Russian elections in terms of the protection and safety of the health of those who took part in voting.

Thus, the speaker of the regional parliament, in particular, noted that “...medical workers were necessarily present at voting stations, temperature control was carried out, participants were provided with antiseptics for hand disinfection, disposable masks, gloves, etc. .d."As for the conduct of the election campaigns themselves, Vladimir Varnavsky emphasized, they all "took place within the legal framework. There were no violations that would cast doubt on the will of voters. 415 representative bodies of local self-government of the Omsk region were formed in a new legitimate composition. and got to work."

The Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Omsk Region also addressed his Western fellow party members with wishes of health, supplementing this farewell with an optimistic forecast for the future: “Despite the pandemic, life does not stand still, I wish everyone further discussions in Strasbourg.”