European Women Mayors News

Women Mayors reporting from Europe

> Russia bombards Ukraine after Trump-Putin call

> Budapest defies ban of Pride

> Vienna's Pride mourns with Graz

> Mass shooting in Graz shocks Austria

Early on 4 July 2025, Russia attacked five cities in Ukraine with a barrage of drones and missiles. (Photos: Office of the President of Ukraine)

UKRAINE

Kyiv and four other Ukrainian cities bombarded by Russia after fruitless Trump-Putin phone call

July 2025: Only a few hours after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended their fruitless telephone call, Russia hit Kyiv and four other Ukrainian cities with an unprecedented drone and missile attack. During the night from 3 to 4 July, explosions rocked the country’s capital city for seven hours. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person was killed and 23 injured in the Russian assault.

Mayor Klitschko told journalists that the attack damaged apartment buildings, businesses, a school, a medical facility, railway lines, and other civilian infrastructure in multiple districts. Eyewitnesses reported fires blazing across the city, making the air dangerous to breathe.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched a record 550 drones and missiles during the seven-hour barrage. Kyiv Independent journalists on the ground heard multiple rounds of explosions in the city beginning around 8 p.m. local time on July 3 and continuing into the early hours of July 4

"The first air raids in our cities and regions began within hours of President Trump's phone call with his Russian counterpart, Putin," President Zelensky said.

Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities have faced intensified drone and missile strikes in recent weeks, with Russia deploying Iranian-designed Shahed drones in record numbers.

On 17 June, Russia launched one of its largest attacks against Kyiv since the start of the war, killing 28 people and injuring 134 others. Less than a week later, ballistic missiles and kamikaze drones assailed the city in another mass strike. Despite Russia's escalating attacks and Ukraine's desperate need for air defence munitions, the US has decided to halt shipments of Patriot missiles and other promised weapons to Kyiv, claiming it needs to bolster its stockpiles.

Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that while he understands Washington's needs to maintain its weapon stockpiles, he hopes "for a level of flexibility" to make sure Ukraine also has what it needs. Meanwhile, a German government spokesperson said German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius was currently in talks with the Defence Department to buy Patriot air defence systems to give to Ukraine.

Statement by Ukrainian President Zelensky, issued on 4 July 2025

The fires are still being extinguished and the rubble is still being cleared after another Russian strike. It was one of the largest air strikes ever, a demonstrably significant and cynical strike. A total of 550 targets, of which at least 330 were Russian-Iranian ‘shahids’, were hit, and missiles, including ballistic missiles, were also used.

Moreover, the first air raids in our cities and regions began yesterday only a few hours after President Trump's phone call with Putin. Russia has once again demonstrated that it is not going to end the war and terror.

The capital was the main target of this Russian strike. Our soldiers managed to shoot down 270 aerial targets, and another 208 drones were suppressed by electronic warfare. Interceptor drones have started operating, causing dozens of damage. We are doing everything to develop this area of defence of our cities. And it is very important that we continue to receive support from our partners in ballistic missile defence.

In total, in addition to Kyiv, Dnipro, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv regions were affected by this Russian strike today. As of now, 23 people have been reported wounded. All of them are being helped. There are many places where debris from drones and missiles fell. Unfortunately, there are also direct hits.

All of this is clear evidence that without truly large-scale pressure, Russia will not change its destructive behaviour. It is necessary that for every such blow to people and lives, they feel the corresponding sanctions and other blows to their economy, to their earnings, to their infrastructure. This is the only thing that can be achieved quickly to change the situation for the better. And it depends on our partners, especially the United States.

Sources: The Kyiv Independent; BBC; Office of the President of Ukraine

HUNGARY / BUDAPEST PRIDE

Tens of thousands defy the ban and join Budapest’s Pride

June 2025: An estimated 50,000 people ignored a police ban and threats made by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and joined this year’s Pride in Budapest. By midday (28 June), City Hall Park, in the city centre of the city, was already overflowing with people, many waving rainbow flags.

This year's Pride was characterised by a trial of strength between the right-wing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the liberal-governed capital, Budapest. The police, who are controlled by Orbán's government, had banned the event because, in their opinion, it violated the recently amended Assembly Act. This law allows rallies to be banned if they are directed against the "protection of children".

However, the liberal mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karacsony, had declared this year's Pride an event organised by the city of Budapest. Such an event is not subject to the Assembly Act. According to the Budapest city administration and Pride organisers, it cannot be banned on the basis of this law.

Rainbow flags hang from the town hall - a bitter setback for Orban and his campaign against LGBT rights. With the whole world watching Budapest, Viktor Orbán did not want the police to try to stop the parade, but to use facial recognition software to identify individuals. Those reported could face heavy fines. The Prime Minister contented himself with lashing out at EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had criticised the Pride ban.

Orbán insulted von der Leyen, saying she was behaving like the former leadership of the Soviet Union: "Moscow used to be a centre of power from which orders were sent to Budapest. That's exactly what Ursula von der Leyen is doing now. She is behaving like Brezhnev. She is behaving like a Soviet party secretary."

The Pride organisers are talking about the biggest Pride ever to be held in the Hungarian capital. They are expecting more than 50,000 participants. In Hungary, Pride participants are dressed much less conspicuously than in London or Berlin, for example - no vinyl and leather outfits, little bare skin - but lots of rainbow T-shirts and flags.

Around 70 members of the European Parliament, numerous diplomats and the EU Commissioner for Equal Opportunities, Hadja Lahbib, attended the parade.

Four counter-demonstrations by right-wing extremist groups were also been registered. They have announced their intention to block the route. In contrast to Budapest Pride, they have obtained permits for their demonstrations without any problems. The far-right ‘Our Homeland’ party criticised the government for banning Budapest Pride but not enforcing it.

Péter Magyar, the leader of Tisza, the centrist opposition party in the Hungarian parliament, wrote about Orbán's hate-mongering, divisive politics. "The aim of the fallen power is to turn Hungarian against Hungarian, to create fear and divide us. I urge everyone not to sit up to any provocation. If anyone gets hurt or injured in Budapest today, Viktor Orbán alone will be responsible.”

EUROPE / HUNGARY

European Commission President tells Hungary’s LGBT community that Europe will always be on its side

June 2025: As Budapest prepares to celebrate its annual Pride, Europe has given its strong support for the parade to go ahead despite an attempt by the Hungarian government to ban it. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has urged Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to allow the event to go ahead. Several members of the European Parliament have also announced that they would travel to the Hungarian capital in a show of solidarity with the country’s LGBT community.

In March 2025, Hungary's parliament passed a law banning gatherings that could be perceived as promoting 'homosexuality and gender transition' to minors. Offenders face fines of up to €500 (US$575). Although pride events are not explicitly mentioned in the law, the parliamentary debate confirmed that they fall under its remit.

Despite a police ban, Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony, who is a vocal opponent of Viktor Orbán, has pledged to allow the march to go ahead.

With her intervention, Ursula von der Leyen has shown rare courage in the fraught relationship between the European Commission and the nationalist Hungarian government.

"To the LGBT community in Hungary and beyond: I will always be your ally. You have every reason to be proud," the EU President said. "Europe is stronger and richer because of you. I am on your side. Today and every day."

In a letter seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Hungarian government has warned EU ambassadors not to attend the Pride march on Saturday (28 June). Pride organisers, in turn, sent a letter to embassies insisting the police had no right to ban the event, organised by the city council, and that the march is "neither banned nor unlawful".

Police have said the ban was necessary under recent legislation that bans the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s.

Full statement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen:

“I want to express my full support and solidarity to the Budapest Pride and to the LGBT community. In Europe, marching for your rights is a fundamental freedom.You have the right to love who you want to love and be exactly who you are.

Our Union is one of equality and non-discrimination. These are our core values, enshrined in our Treaties. They must be respected at all times, in all Member States.

I call on the Hungarian authorities to allow the Budapest Pride to go ahead without fear of any criminal or administrative sanctions against the organisers or participants.

To the LGBT community in Hungary and beyond: I will always be your ally. You have every reason to be proud. Europe is stronger and richer because of you. I am on your side. Today and every day.”

AUSTRIA / VIENNA / PRIDE

Vienna’s Pride mourns with the people of Graz and sends out a defiant message to all haters

June 2025: After the mass shooting in a school in Graz, in which eleven people were killed, the organisers of Vienna’s Pride Parade briefly discussed the cancellation of the annual event. However, it was felt by everybody that Pride has always stood for resistance to hate. But instead of its usual noisy start, this year’s Vienna Pride started unusually quietly.

Tens of thousands of people marched in silence from Vienna’s City Hall to the Austrian State Parliament. At the start of the procession, they carried a black banner with the words ‘Our hearts are in Graz’ (Unsere Herzen sind in Graz). In front of the parliament building, the marchers unfolded another banner with the inscription ‘Every child has the right to a future in safety’.

For many people, including representatives from the worlds of politics, sport and the arts, joining the march was an act of defiance. “Pride is about solidarity and offering everyone a place of safety and support.”

A leading member of Vienna’s city parliament pointed out that early Pride marches all over the world carried the message ‘We won’t let the haters put us down’.

Further reading: Mayor of Graz wins World Mayor Prize

AUSTRIA / GRAZ / SHOOTING

The Mayor of Graz calls for solidarity after Austria’s worst mass shooting and urges stricter gun control

June 2025: The whole of Austria is in mourning after the worst shooting rampage in the country’s history. Ten people lost their lives when a former pupil opened fire at a grammar school in Graz (Styria). On Tuesday morning (10 June 2025), a 21-year-old former pupil of the ‘BORG Dreierschützengasse’ school opened fire in the school building at around 10.00 am. The shooter was armed with a handgun and a rifle. He shot dead nine pupils and one teacher and injured dozens. He then took his own life in a toilet.

According to a police spokesperson, the gunman was travelling with a pistol and a shotgun that he legally owned. He was unemployed and had left school, the institution where he killed nine pupils and a teacher in his former classroom, without graduating. Various reports say that he saw himself as a victim of bullying.

A digital and analogue suicide note, addressed to his parents, was found in his home. The message seems to rule out any political motives.

Elke Kahr, the Mayor of Graz and winner of the 2023 World Mayor Prize, said the city was standing together like never before. “It is characteristic of the city's people to help each other at times of adversity.”

The next few days will be about talking to the pupils about the events, said the mayor in an interview. “It is important to reassure children that they are safe and supported by everyone working in schools.”

The mayor also repeated her conviction that it is far too easy for private citizens to obtain guns. She called for a ban on weapons in the private sector. “Weapons should only be issued to people who carry them as part of their professional duties, not to private individuals.” Elke Kahr has always held this opinion, and the current situation has convinced her “all the more”.

Many experts agree with Mayor Kahr. “It is far too easy to be given a gun permit. All it takes is to be of age (21 Years), to live at a permanent address and to have no criminal record.” Some 1.5 million weapons are registered in Austria, a country of nine million people, with an above-average number in Styria, where Graz is the state capital.

Further reading: Mayor of Graz wins World Mayor Prize

CROATIA / LOCAL ELECTIONS

Progressive mayor is re-elected in Zagreb, but conservatives dominate in small-town Croatia

June 2025: In the second round of local elections held in Croatia on 1 June 2025, the country’s conservative governing party, HDZ (Christian Democratic Union), strengthened its hold on communities across the country. The party collected some 49 per cent of the national vote, winning in 280 constituencies.

However, voters in the capital city of Zagreb re-elected the incumbent mayor from the left-green Mozema party. In his bid for a second term, Tomislav Tomašević was also backed by the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). Mozema, whose name means ‘We can’ (inspired by the Spanish left-wing Podemos), became attractive to young, professional people who demanded that the city becomes liveable for all. During the Zagreb mayor’s first term, investors were controlled, uncontrolled building was regulated with an urban development plan, and affordable housing was built.

The conservative HDZ has its strongholds in small towns and rural parts of the country. But it also won in Split, Croatia's second-largest city. Tomislav Šuta defeated the incumbent mayor Ivica Puljak. The HDZ was thus able to recapture the Adriatic city after four years.

For the first time in independent Croatia, the port city of Rijeka in Istria will be governed by a woman mayor. Independent candidate Iva Rinčić won with just under 65 the vote against the incumbent mayor Marko Filipović. Rinčić, who was supported by smaller liberal parties, had already won the first round by a clear margin and went into the run-off as the favourite.

In the run-off elections on Sunday, mayors were elected in a total of 47 towns and 61 municipalities, and the heads of twelve counties were also elected. Overall, there is a deep divide in Croatia between the progressive and bourgeois urban population and the conservative rural areas.

Sources: City of Zagreb; TAZ (Berlin); Croatia Week; BGNES News Agency

LONDON / WAR IN GAZA

London borough mayor joins religious leaders in condemning the abdication of humanity in Gaza

Report by Josef Steen

May 2025: Caroline Woodley, the Mayor of the London borough of Hackney, said in a statement that she strongly condemns the expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza and the wholly inadequate provision of aid.

"Our Hackney communities, along with many thousands of voices raised across Britain, have been constant and clear that more needs to be done by our government and our allies to stop military operations in Gaza and immediately allow access to humanitarian aid. The joint statement by the leaders of the UK, Canada and France affirms the importance of engaging with the UN to ensure a return to the delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles and calls on Hamas to immediately release the remaining hostages held since the heinous attack on 7 October 2023.”

On Wednesday, 21 May, Mayor Woodley gathered with faith leaders and others at a peace vigil, marking the “grief and horror” of the conflict. Members from Hackney’s Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities were present. Her voice breaking, Mayor Woodley said: “What I feel in my heart, in all honesty, is overwhelming shame – that I lead a borough that sees poverty, division, and has communities who have cried out for change in the face of genocide and famine, not only in Gaza, but across the world.

She added that people were now hearing stories that “make us question our humanity”.

Local clergyman Father William Taylor began the vigil with a call to stand and “share some silence” together. Rabbi Herschel Gluck said: “We are gathered here today in a place which is called a common, and we all have something in common.” Mohammed Maljee, from Masjid Quba, described his feeling of isolation living in the borough since the war’s outbreak. “The Quran says the person who kills one soul has killed humanity and the person who saves one soul has saved humanity,” he said.

Further reading: Israel’s attacks on cities in Gaza cause destruction and death on an unimaginable scale

PARIS / HOLIDAYS FOR THE YOUNG

Paris offers young people a helping hand to go on holiday

May 2025: To help young Parisians go on holiday, the Paris City government has set up the ‘Paris Jeunes Vacances’ scheme, providing €200 (US$225) in assistance to teenagers and people in their twenties.

Young people aged between 16 and 30 who live in Paris simply need to submit an application form by 2 June 2025. The Paris Department of Youth and Sport will then examine the applications and inform the Paris mayor’s office of the list of beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will then be able to collect their holiday vouchers within three months. Proof of tourist accommodation (hotel, campsite, hostel, etc.) for a minimum of two nights and three days will be required in addition to proof of identity and address details.

The scheme is also available for other holiday periods throughout the year: the deadline for the autumn holidays is 22 September, while for the Christmas holidays, people will need to apply before 24 November.

Not all young people qualify for the holiday money. Excluded are those who earn above €17,000 a year or receive social security benefits or education grants.

Source: Ville de Paris (Paris City Hall)

AMSTERDAM / HOLOCAUST

Amsterdam Mayor apologises for the city’s role in the Holocaust

“The Amsterdam government, when it came down to it, was not heroic, not determined and not merciful. And it let its Jewish residents down terribly.”

May 2025: The Mayor of the Dutch capital Femke Halsema issued a formal apology for the city’s involvement in the persecution and deportation of Jews during World War II. She was speaking from the Jewish Cultural Quarter during a commemoration service on the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day in April 2025.

The mayor acknowledged the municipality’s failure to protect its Jewish citizens during the event for Yom HaShoah, acknowledging that “when it truly mattered, the Amsterdam government was not brave, not resolute, and not compassionate enough. It gravely failed its Jewish residents”.

On behalf of the city government, she offered her “sincere apologies” and stated that there is a responsibility to remember and honour the victims of the Holocaust. She detailed how the city government actively collaborated with the occupying Nazi forces — from mapping out Jewish residences and enforcing registration requirements to making public transport available for deportations. She also described the mandatory registration of Jews as a critical step in their systemic dehumanisation and extermination, resulting in the murder of 60,000 Jewish Amsterdammers.

By early 1941, Jews were required by the German forces to register with the authorities. In total, about 160,000 people registered throughout the whole of the Netherlands, including thousands of refugees and individuals of mixed heritage and some 25,000 Jewish refugees from the German Reich, like the family of the diary author and Amsterdam resident Anne Frank.

The Dutch Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies will soon complete an investigation into the role of all municipal services that were involved in the exclusion and persecution of Jewish Amsterdammers during World War II.

The Netherlands, which had maintained neutrality for a century before the outbreak of WWII, was invaded by Nazi Germany on 10 May 1940. Between 1942 and 1945, over 107,000 Jews from the Netherlands were deported, mostly to concentration camps in Auschwitz and Sobibor, where the majority were killed.

Four years ago, Mayor Halsema apologized for Amsterdam’s role in another dark moment in history, the global slave trade.

Report by Nazrin Sadigova