ALTON district councillor Robert Saunders attended his first plenary session of the Congress of the Council of Europe at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg from March 21 to 24.

Mr Saunmders’ first session was marred by Daesh terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and Maalbeek metro station, in which 32 people were killed and and more than 300 injured by three suicide bombers on the morning of March 22.

Mr Saunders, the member for Alton Amery, was appointed as East Hampshire District Council’s (EHDC) representative on the Council of Europe in October last year, and he will sit on the Congress – the local government section of the authority, promoting human rights and democracy across Europe.

He reported on the session during an extraordinary full council meeting at Alton Assembly Rooms on the evening of March 29, during which Alton’s mayor, Pam Jones, called for a minute’s silence to remember those who had lost their lives in the bombing. The extraordinary meeting had been scalled to discuss the future of the building, the upset over the handling of the process to transfer the running of the Assembly Rooms to Alton Community Association (ACA).

Ironically, according to Mr Saunders, and given the nature of the evening’s meeting which continued to centre around the lack of transparency and public consultation surrounding the future of the Assembly Rooms, the theme for the Congress for 2016 was: Ethics and Transparency in Local Government.

Mr Saunders reported that debates were held on how to deal with the Europe-wide migrant crisis and how migrants could be integrated into communities. In addition, there was a debate and vote on a motion regarding ethical and transparent procurement processes.

Reports were also received on monitoring missions to the Ukraine, to observe elections there, and democracy at a local and regional level in France.

On the congress fringe, Mr Saunders attended receptions hosted by the Bulgarian and Italian national delegations.

During a reception hosted by mayors from Italy’s Monteforte region, Mr Saunders had an opportunity to “speak warmly” of Alton’s long established twinning relationship with Montecchio Maggiore in Northern Italy.

In addition, a reception hosted by the Russian Federation was held to promote the country’s Vladimir region. But the UK delegation unanimously decided to boycott it because of |Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

“This was despite the temptation of free vodka and caviar,” joked Mr Saunders.

He added: “Personally, the highlight of the trip was a visit to the UK ambassador’s residence for dinner.”

Mr Saunders will next be Strasbourg in July for a meeting of the EU current affairs committee.