Bratislava to Host European Mayors, Kharkov and Lvov Mayors Expected as Well

Bratislava, May 23 (TASR) - The city of Bratislava will host European mayors on Monday (May 25). Mayors and representatives of Budapest, Warsaw, Paris and Tirana, as well as the Ukrainian cities of Kharkov and Lvov will come to discuss democracy and its protection in the European space. The event will take place as part of the summit of the Pact of Free Cities, which will be hosted in 2024 by Bratislava mayor Matus Vallo. "One of the important conclusions of the summit should be the accession to a joint declaration condemning any politically-motivated violence against individuals or groups of people," said Bratislava spokesman Peter Bubla. The Bratislava Declaration should summarise the Pact's basic mission and cities' role in protecting democracy and an open society. It features current threats in the development of democracy, which it sees mainly in populism, disinformation and distrust in institutions. It also deals with global challenges in the field of the environment, digital reality, or quality of life and safety, at the same time emphasising the importance of cities in addressing them. "The situation in Ukraine will definitely be one of the main issues on the agenda of the mayors' discussions during the summit as well," added Bubla. The Pact of Free Cities was founded by the mayors of Bratislava (Matus Vallo), Budapest (Gergely Karacsony), Prague (Zdenek Hrib) and Warsaw (Rafał Trzaskowski) in 2019. It is currently an informal alliance of mayors of more than 30 European cities. The Pact has been closely cooperating with Ukrainian cities since before the Russian invasion, especially with Kiev and other bigger cities. At the beginning of 2022, Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko became a member as well. The Kharkov mayor should become a new pact member at the Bratislava summit. ko/mcs