Friday, November 8, 2019, Allianz Forum Berlin, Pariser Platz 6
The results of the European elections in 2019 are encouraging - not least the significantly increased turnout and large demonstrations in the streets of Europe show: Citizens, many of them, want this Europe. It is an important political issue for them. The necessary consequence: Europe must be driven forward more than before by strength and enthusiasm "from the bottom up". Cities and regions have a decisive role to play in this. In Europe, they are the institutions of the grass roots.
We are convinced that responsible local politicians are now faced with the decision of whether they want to embrace this interest, this mission from their citizens and also accept and execute politics for Europe also as a local political task. Whether they regard it as part of the performance and success of local politics to align their work with the European political interests of their citizens or not. The full-day cooperation meeting on 8 November 2019 in Berlin would like to use the Cities for Europe Initiative to discuss the challenges and tasks of such a Europe-oriented local policy with representatives of European city governments and the civil society.
The conference will begin with a public discussion with Karl-Heinz Lambertz, President of the Committee of the Regions, Luca Jahier, President of the European Economic and Social Committee and Rafal Dutkiewicz, former mayor of Wroclaw,who will discuss the responsibility of grassroots initiatives for the success of Europe with European and German mayors and city representatives present.
Afterwards, five working groups will discuss specific challenges and functioning models for cities in Europe. Building on topics already developed in 2018, the focus will be on the potential of cities and their culture and history. These include cities that want to be role models with their self-conception as European cities, be it as "festival cities", as former or future candidate cities for the title of European Capital of Culture or on the subject of refugees and migration. The topics " Understanding local history in a European way" and "Youth theatres work for Europe" will also be addressed. The results and demands of the working groups are then fed back to the political level.
The Marketplace Europe also offers the opportunity to arrange meetings between cities and civil society projects and initiatives.
The entire event is open to the public. Please register under the following registration link: https://citiesforeurope.eu/cfe2019