The Mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, will represent major European cities in the coming two years, as President of Eurocities. He succeeds the Mayor of Stockholm, Anna König Jerlmyr, and is joined by the Mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, who will become the network’s Vice President.
Nardella, who was elected by delegates from more than 100 cities, wants to work for a stronger role of cities in the EU. Specifically, he noted: “There can be no future for Europe without local communities and local governments on board. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit cities hardest. Many people are in precarious employment situations, or have lost their jobs, and our health and social services have been stretched far beyond limits.”
Nardella demands direct access for cities to EU funding and a greater say in the design of EU policies. “The current crisis can be an opportunity to pave the way towards a sustainable and fair recovery, in which cities must be the drivers, with a seat at the decision-making table,” he said.
As President, Nardella plans to lead Eurocities and its member cities to achieve goals like the implementation of European Green Deal initiatives and to boost culture and social cohesion in cities across Europe.
“I look forward to meeting these challenges, together with the other Eurocities member cities, and I am honoured to have been elected to this position by my fellow mayors and to have this opportunity,” he concluded.
Delegates to the conference also took part in elections for Eurocities Executive Committee – always represented by politicians from 12 cities, who form the main decision-making body of the organisation. The new members, which each receive a three-year mandate are the cities of Braga and Oslo, while Florence and Rotterdam were re-elected. The other member cities of Eurocities Executive Committee are Barcelona, Ghent, Leipzig, Ljubljana, Nantes, Stockholm, Vienna and Warsaw.
Meanwhile, the newly elected chairs of Eurocities political forums are: Culture, Annekatrin Klepsch from Dresden; Economy, Pia Pakarinen from Helsinki; Environment, Filipe Araújo from Porto; Knowledge Society, Laia Bonet from Barcelona; Mobility, Jean-Claude Dardelet from Toulouse; Social Affairs, Maarten van Ooijen from Utrecht.
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Notes to Editors
- Eurocities wants to make cities places where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life, is able to move around safely, access quality and inclusive public services and benefit from a healthy environment. We do this by networking almost 200 larger European cities, which together represent some 130 million people across 39 countries, and by gathering evidence of how policy making impacts on people to inspire other cities and EU decision makers.
Connect with us at www.eurocities.eu or by following our Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts - The Eurocities Annual Conference has over 600 registered participants, who engaged around the theme of ‘Reinventing Cities’. More here: www.eurocities.eu
Media contact:
Alex Godson: +32 495 298 594 // alex.godson@eurocities.eu
