Democracy Digest: V4 Mayors Unite Against Populism

Their choice of meeting place was significant: the campus of the Central European University founded by US-Hungarian financier George Soros. The university is at odds with the government and is in the process of being ousted from Hungary.

All four mayors come from parties or movements in opposition, but they denied they were seeking to form "an alternative Visegrad Four", a reference to the regional alliance comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

The V4 has a somewhat tarnished image in the European Union due to its national-populist governments and poor record on corruption, the rule of law and defence of democratic principles. 

"We do not want to be defined as a force against something, but rather as a pro-European, positive alliance, which is also open to other cities," Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib told this reporter during a joint interview for Hungarian news site 24.hu (in Hungarian). "There is no reference of V4 in the declaration."

Hrib, a 38-year-old doctor, comes from the Czech Pirate Party. He found international fame earlier this year when he defied the Czech Republic's China-friendly foreign policy, refusing a request by the Chinese Ambassador to expel his Taiwanese colleague and abide by the "one China" policy. He later reinstated the practice of flying the Tibetan flag from city hall.

Most of the V4 mayors' plans are less dramatic. They intend to share best practices in transport policy, social housing, energy efficiency and solutions for smart cities. They believe that innovative companies (often start-ups) will be a driving force in the 21st Century.

But they also plan to do something rather subversive: lobby jointly — and directly — for EU funds, therefore bypassing their own governments.

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