The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the City of Barcelona and the European Forum for Urban Security, in co-operation with the Generalitat of Catalonia, are holding a Summit of Mayors for the Alliance of European Cities against Violent Extremism in Barcelona, Spain, on Wednesday 15 November 2017. The summit will bring together 55 participants from 18 countries, including 32 mayors and deputy mayors from European cities, for two thematic sessions, respectively on the issues of North-South co-operation and on ways of supporting local authorities in preventing violent extremism.
The thematic sessions will include addresses by Mohamed Sadiki, Mayor of Rabat, Morocco, Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana, Albania, Leen Verbeek, Congress spokesperson on combating radicalisation, Hans Bonte, Mayor of Vilvoorde, Belgium, and José Maria Garcia Mompel, Deputy Mayor of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain.
The summit will be opened by Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona, Gunn Marit Helgesen, Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and Willy Demeyer, President of the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus). The Mayor of Madrid, Manuela CARMENA, will also address the participants as a keynote speaker.
On the same day, the summit participants will join in the international interdisciplinary conference on coproducing urban security policies being held by Efus and will pay a study visit to the El Clot Islamic Cultural Centre with Lola Lopez Fernandez, the City of Barcelona’s Commissioner for Immigration, Interculturalism and Diversity.
The 3rd Summit of Mayors follows on from the summit in Rotterdam (Netherlands, November 2016) and the Conference of Local Authorities on the Prevention of Radicalisation Leading to Violent Extremism (Aarhus, Denmark, November 2015). The Summit of Mayors is an event initiated under the Alliance of European Cities against Violent Extremism set up by the Congress and Efus in 2015, as well as the Council of Europe’s Action Plan on the fight against violent extremism and radicalisation leading to terrorism. It provides a European forum for sharing experience and information about promising practices and training programmes, and has previously produced the Rotterdam and Aarhus declarations.
