Mayor of Kristiansand municipality Mathias Bernander shakes hands with mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych from the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv (photo: Kristiansand municipality)
The theme this year is how local development can be a security measure. Among other things, the meeting will discuss what challenges and opportunities local governments have, and in particular regions in EU/EEA countries that border countries that are not part of the EU. How can local governments promote local democracy, economic development and inclusion? Another important topic is how to strengthen internal and external security in the eastern border area of the EU. This is seen in the light of the security situation in Europe after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Relevant and useful for food
– Last year was the first time Kristiansand hosted a municipal summit with guests from Ukraine, Poland and Romania. The guests shared their own experiences about the challenges associated with maintaining services and governance when a municipality is in crisis, explains international adviser in Kristiansand municipality, Øyvind Laderud. – It made a strong impression to hear the experiences of a Polish border town with Ukraine which suddenly had to deal with 120,000 refugees a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Laderud emphasizes that the Ukrainian mayor from Mykolaiv had the strongest stories to tell. – He described what it was like to ensure that the municipality and the citizens contributed to repelling the Russian attack in the winter of 2022. He also told how demanding it was to ensure that the citizens could still receive a minimum of services after the massive destruction of apartment blocks, roads and schools.
Mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych
Useful experience sharing
The fact that municipal leaders gathered and shared such experiences in 2023 proved to be very popular. Many of the participants have expressed that they wanted to come back to Kristiansand, and therefore we are creating a similar event this year, says Laderud.
– The managers who come to Kristiansand bring with them different backgrounds. They come from different cultures where they often also have different frameworks for their work. In any case, it is felt to be very useful to share experiences and come together in an international conference. The theme is closely connected with the European Conference for Democracy and Human Rights, the very spearhead of Democracy Week. The European conference takes place on Monday 6 May and emphasizes the importance of international institutions for democracy.
– It is the municipalities and their leaders who are the front line and the backbone of the welfare state, not least in times of crisis, states Laderud. He goes on to say that there will mainly be new mayors and leaders this year.
Øyvind Laderud
Contributions from Ukraine and Münster
This year, among others, the deputy mayor of Kherson will come to talk about his experiences. The regional capital Kherson was the first major city to be captured by the Russian forces at the beginning of the war and was occupied by the Russians until November 22.
– We also hope that Mayor Markus Lewe from our twin city of Münster will have the opportunity to participate. Münster’s identity is strongly influenced by its history as a city of peace and the city’s motto is “tolerance through dialogue”, states Laderud.
Laderud states that Kristiansand’s aim is to consolidate this municipal summit as a regular feature of Democracy Week. – With this meeting, we hope that we will be able to establish a permanent arena where municipal leaders can come together to discuss and share experiences about the important role of local authorities.
