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The Cities Conference 'From Lisbon to Gothenburg, cities make Europe strong!'

Edited on

21 June 2019
Read time: 1 minute

The Association des Maires de Grandes Villes (AMGVF) will hold its 8th Cities Conference on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at the Paris City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) at the invitation of Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris. Labeled 'From Lisbon to Gothenburg, cities make Europe strong!' this new edition is an official event under the French presidency of the European Union. It offers the opportunity to bring together nearly 800 French and European elected officials to discuss the role of European cities in the construction of Community policy.

The primary goal of the eighth edition of the Cities Conference, an official event under the French presidency of the European Union, is to demonstrate that beyond member states, large cities have a major stake in the European Union today. Tomorrow's competitive, multicultural and sustainable society requires the assertion of a territorial approach that will help to cement a European identity. Europe's major cities are the main actors that can pull together the Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies into coherent actions.

Elected officials from the various European countries will exchange their experiences and the solutions devised in order to face the challenges of social and urban segregation and meet European environmental commitments. Although the experiments undertaken can naturally not be transposed as is from one country to the next due to very different social, economic and institutional contexts, they will nevertheless offer avenues to rethink economic development and improve the daily life of underprivileged neighbourhoods.
Discussions pertaining to competitiveness, social cohesion and high environmental standards will provide an opportunity for elected officials to interact regarding the values that form the basis of a European economic and social model. Read more