The mayors of Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw signed an agreement in Budapest on Monday to denounce populism, while vowing to join forces to protect freedom, human dignity, democracy, equality, rule of law, social justice, tolerance and cultural diversity. "We're in countries with governments pursuing extremist and populist policies, which our cities reject," said Bratislava's Mayor Matúš Vallo. In the agreement they named major challenges for their cities, including the climate crisis, inequality, housing crisis, an ageing population and political tribalism, which they explained as efforts to place the values of a selected group of people above universal human values.
Anca Dragu, Photo: AP/MTI/TASR
