Since 2019, the pact has grown to include dozens of cities, mostly in Europe but also including Los Angeles in the United States.Īccording to Hřib, the initiative was first thought up by Karácsony, who, after winning an election against Fidesz' preferred candidate in October 2019, is facing reduction in local government autonomy. The first call to plan the pact was in November 2019. The mayors all control a significant part of their countries' economies: 25, 26, 17, and 27 percent of GDP respectively for Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw, and Budapest. The mayors all come from the same generation the oldest is Trzaskowski (47) and the youngest Hřib (38). All are from pro-European parties that are in the opposition at the national level. They published an article on the website of European Council on Foreign Relations to explain their decision, stating that they believe in "an open society based on our cherished common values of freedom, human dignity, democracy, sustainability, equality, the rule of law, social justice, tolerance, and cultural diversity".Īccording to, the pact is ideologically inspired by the 2013 book If Mayors Ruled the World: Dysfunctional Nations, Rising Cities by American sociologist Benjamin Barber. The pact has also been described as "anti- populist" at the signing ceremony, Hřib said that populism provides "a simple and wrong answer to the problems" facing their cities and countries. Karácsony contrasted what he called the grassroots democracy practiced by cities with the populist approach: "The national populists advocate centralisation, and treat voters as ‘subjects’." Although the cities are the capitals of the four Visegrád Group countries, the initiative does not mention the Visegrád Group. Hřib stated that the alliance is a "pro-European, positive alliance, which is also open to other cities". The venue, Central European University, was described as symbolic, given the Viktor Orbán government's attacks on the university which forced it to move most of its educational programs to Vienna.
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