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17th November 2023
Mr Chair of the Global Parliament of Mayors, Dear Mr Rio
Madam Mayor of Skopje and chair of the Forum of Mayors, Dear Ms Arsovska,
Excellencies,
Mayors, ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure on behalf of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, to address you on the eve of the Global Parliament of Mayors (GPM) Annual Summit for 2023. I would like to thank you Mr chair for your kind invitation and I would like to thank our host, the Mayor of Skopje and her team for making it possible for participants from around the world to gather here in Skopje, and to honor and celebrate the outstanding work of the recipients of the Benjamin Barber Global Cities Award.
Over the last month, the mayor of Skopje and I met 3 times : at the UN in Geneva in her capacity as chair of the forum of Mayors / in Strasbourg at the Council of Europe at the occasion of the Congress session and today here with the global parliament of mayors.
This tells us two important things : First that mayor Arsovska has way too much energy and secondly and more seriously that the presence, visibility and influence of local governments on the European and global scene has never been so huge.
Local and regional authorities have reached that point thanks to the work of outstanding people like Benjamin Barber. Thanks of course to organisations like the Global Parliament of Mayors.
Through your work and the work of the whole local and regional constituency, national governments and international institutions including the Council of Europe, have slowly understood that mayors are not only here to ensure that city buses run and that school are open.
They have also understood, unfortunately due to the many crisis the world face that mayors are the first ones to react to crisis. Environmental crisis, social crisis, democratic backsliding and unfortunately also wars.
I was very touched to see that the winner of the prize last year was the Association of Ukrainian Cities. I can say that the war in Ukraine is maybe the event that made most national governments at the Council of Europe understand the importance of local governments: role of decentralization in the war.
The Ukrainian mayors deserve all our respect. But you don’t need to be at war to achieve incredible things every day.
Mayors are at the foundation of our democracies / they are at the frontline to promote and protect our common values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
For all this, for your time, dedication, passion, I want, on behalf of the Council of Europe and its Congress to pay tribute to Benjamin Barber, to congratulate the Global Parliament of Mayors for its work and to thank you all for your service.