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WORLD MAYOR 2018
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FRONT PAGE About World Mayor City Mayors Foundation    WORLD MAYOR 2018 • Results 2018 • Project 2018 • Shortlist 2018 • Longlist 2018 • Raison d'être • World Mayor history • World Mayor Prize • Code of Ethics • Criteria • Meet the Press INTERVIEWS WITH • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Zamboanga ESSAYS BY • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Cologne • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Fort Worth • Mayor of Lille • Mayor of Paris • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Saarbrücken • Mayor of Trbovlje • Mayor of Tunis • Mayor of Zamboanga TESTIMONIALS • Mayor of Alphen / Rijn • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Baden-Baden • Mayor of Calais • Mayor of Chemnitz • Mayor of Cologne • Mayor of Cozumel • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Fort Worth • Mayor of Grand Rapids • Mayor of Lille • Mayor of Lodz • Mayor of Molenbeek • Mayor of Narayanganj • Mayor of Oakland • Mayor of Omaha • Mayor of Paris • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Reutlingen • Mayor of Saarbrücken • Mayor of San Juan • Mayor of Trbovlje • Mayor of Tunis • Mayor of Zamboanga • Mayor of Zurich PROFILES OF • Mayor of Ancona • Mayor of Cologne • Mayor of Doncaster • Mayor of Fort Worth • Mayor of Lille • Mayor of Paris • Mayor of Rennes • Mayor of Saarbrücken • Mayor of Trbovlje • Mayor of Tunis • Mayor of Zamboanga WORLD MAYOR 2016 WORLD MAYOR 2014 WORLD MAYOR 2012 WORLD MAYOR 2010 WORLD MAYOR 2008 WORLD MAYOR 2006 WORLD MAYOR 2005 WORLD MAYOR 2004 |
 Jasna GabricMayor of Trbovlje, Slovenia World Mayor 2018: Mayor of Distinction 12 February 2019: Jasna Gabric has been mayor of Trbovlje (Population 15,000), a former mining town in Slovenia, since November 2014. By the time she was re-elected with 68 per cent of the vote in November 2018, unemployment in the town had fallen from 22 per cent to 13 per cent. The fall in unemployment partly due to a successful incubator for start-ups initiated by the mayor. During Mayor Gabric’s first term, Trbovlje also won a nationwide safe city award. In her World Mayor essay, she writes “back in 2014, almost nobody believed that in the old mining town of Trbovlje a woman could win the elections at the age of 29 and without a party backing her.” A broadcaster, Jasna Gabric stood successfully for election to the municipal council at the age of 25 in 2010 at the suggestion of women who had been impressed by her local radio work. She was Deputy Mayor during the second half of her term as councillor. In the 2014 local elections, she led a slate of candidates to victory. She repeated the success in 2018. Mayor Gabric says attitudes amongst older men with positions in Trbovlje made it impossible for her to enter politics earlier than 2010. “There is a persistent mentality in Slovenia that does not see politics as a domain for women. As a woman you are required to work twice as hard to see your work being recognised.” During her first two years as mayor, Gabric reformed the municipality to make it more efficient and responsive. She says “the city started changing its image. We cleaned it up and it immediately started looking more orderly. With EU funds we began to improve infrastructure and to tackle the unemployment. In the first two years we focused on our task and ignored pessimists and baseless criticism.” She also continued her earlier engagement with the European Union. She is a member of ALDE (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe) and has been on the Committee of the Regions since 2012. Gabric chairs the regional committee of CoR and authorities in the Western Balkans. Extract from Mayor Gabric’s essay: During the most prosperous decades of our mining and industrial past, our municipality became home to workers from all across former Yugoslavia. They brought their families along with them. As a result of this influx, new building complexes were built to create homes for these newcomers. However, many years later, their second and third-generation descendants still live in these blocks. Despite being born in Trbovlje, they did not always manage to integrate well and even today they speak their own language and feel marginalized in their own environment. As a mayor, I set the objective to revive also these neighbourhoods. I visit all parts of my city regularly, and whenever we select projects for implementation, we always make sure that all areas of the city are covered. Under no circumstances will I allow any divisions. Along with my activities as a mayor, I also took up a variety of other engagements. My work in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is tightly linked to all of the above. What I achieved at home should be possible anywhere. My focus is on the Western Balkans and I chair the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) between the CoR and local and regional representatives from FYROM. This is my opportunity to spread the ambition in the neighbouring region, of both the EU, but particularly of my country - to display with an example that young politicians, and young women, can and must take leadership in solving today's challenges of our communities and not sit idly while the old established class lead by inertia. MORE Typical tribute: I would like to vote for Jasna Gabric. Having worked with her for a number of years on a European level, I have witnessed her determination to change her city to the better. I participated in a study visit to her city with local and regional politicians from several European countries last year and remained very impressed by what she has achieved in her city and the clear objectives she has set for the future. In particular the facilities provided for young start-ups by a local innovative company and supported by the city council is an excellent initiative, which could be used as a best practise by other local authorities around Europe. MORE Further reading ESSAY | TRIBUTES |