Congress President Gudrun Mosler-Törnström attended the General Assembly of EUDEL, the Association of Basque Municipalities in Getxo (Spain) on 1 June 2017. She met with the EUDEL Executive Committee before delivering a speech at the opening session of the General Assembly. “When I read the statutes of your association, I feel that we share the same vision of the government, that we are of the same family. You work to promote and defend local and regional democracy and the general interest of your members before the national political and administrative authorities and to develop the European spirit in the local authorities”, she said. Imanol Landa, President of EUDEL and Mayor of Getxo recalled that “Europe needs to hear the voices of municipalities in order to remain connected to reality and build a new relationship of trust with the public”. “Local democracy is the key to the renewal of Europe”, he added. The President of the Congress held also bilateral talks with the Basque government spokesman Josu Erkoreka, the President of the Basque Nationalist Party Andoni Ortuzar and the Mayor of Bilbao Juan Mr Aburto. On 2 June, she visited the capital of the Basque country Vittoria to meet Basque President Bakartxo Tejeria. Then she went to Guernica, where she met with the President of the province of Biscaya Ana Otadui. With the two Presidents, she spoke among others about the place of women in politics. “It is at the local level that women must start to get more involved so that they can increase their presence in the national and European spheres” stressed Gudrun Mosler-Törnström, adding that “women in power have the capacity and the duty to change mentalities”.
Speech by Gudrun Mosler-Törnström
Speech by Imanol Landa, Mayor of Getxo
Eudel website