The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities acts as a “laboratory of democracy” at local and regional levels, Parliamentary Assembly Peter Schieder said today, addressing the Congress during its opening session. “Your intiatives, debates and projects have served to water and fertilize the grass roots, especially where the seeds had fallen on long untended ground. And the Congress is looking more and more into how the grass is growing. Its country-by-country monitoring in the light of the European Charter of Local Self-Government is an important complement to the monitoring carried out by the Parliamentary Assembly,” said Mr Schieder.