From 3 to 6 June 2018 a study tour to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg took place for the representatives of the awarded municipalities under the Best Practice in Bulgarian Local Self-Governments Programme 2016/2017. The visit was part of the Programme and was funded by the Council of Europe. The Programme was carried out in Bulgaria by FLGR.



In the first edition of the Programme in Bulgaria the municipalities competed in three thematic areas.
In Thematic area 1 "Municipal support for civic initiatives" the practices of the municipalities Tundzha and Dobrich were awarded.
In Thematic Area 2 " New management technologies and solutions" the first two places were awarded to the practices of the Troyan and Plovdiv municipalities.
In Thematic Area 3 "Social Innovations and Partnerships" the practices of the municipalities of Veliko Turnovo and Svishtov were awarded.



The representatives of the Bulgarian municipalities traveled to the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg and had a series of successful, informative and interesting meetings with a number of representatives of different institutions within the Council of Europe:
- Mrs. Jutta Gützkow, Head of Good Governance Division, and Ms Silvia Ivanova, Centre of Expertise on Local Government Reform;
- Mr. Dimitry Marchenkov, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe;
- Mrs. Francesca Lionetti, Intercultural Cities Programme;
- Mrs. Katya Todorova, Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the Council of Europe;
- Mr. Ivan Nikolchev, Civil Society Unit;
- Judge Yonko Grozev, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
The participants of the study trip considered it highly effective and useful for their future work.