On 20 October 2020, ILDG members attended the first virtual group meeting. Opening the meeting, President Marc Cools underlined how important it was for the members to be able to keep the bond. This is one of the reasons why the ILDG Bureau had insisted that political groups of the Congress should be able to conduct virtual meetings. Moreover, Congress members should be allowed to hold a debate before adopting resolutions and recommendations, and the Bureau of the Congress should be consulted on a regular basis to allow democratic decision-making even if physical meetings remain impossible.

The ILDG heard reports from the committee representatives and the Vice-Chairs of the Congress, exchanged views on the organisation of the Congress work in the months to come including election observation, shared information on how local authorities cope with the covid-19 crisis and discussed how local democracy is affected by this challenging situation.