The mayor of Paris, invited to the Brussels forum, which brought together European mayors and that of kyiv, praises the merits… of cycling, to the brother of the mayor of the capital at war.
«You need to have a plan if you want to rebuild [la ville]… Transforming urban infrastructure, and moving from cars to bicycles, is very interesting“. Very seriously, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo allows herself this advice to the brother of the mayor of kyiv, during the kyiv 2022 Investment Forum in Brussels on November 28. The subject of the discussion was the reconstruction projects of the Ukrainian capital.
This video extract of Anne Hidalgo’s speech, relayed on Twitter in recent days, did not fail to make Internet users react, while the mayor of Paris is regularly pinned for her policy “100% cycleable». «What a feeling of unease. She’s promoting cycling to the mayor (sic) of a capital of a country at war…Laments a Twitter user in the comment. “Cycling is warm when the majority of kyiv residents have no electricity“, Ironically another, sharply criticizing the city councilor of Paris for his disconnection from the realities of war.
Give pride of place to bicycles
«The city of Copenhagen, which gave pride of place to the circulation of bicycles, was a model for the city of Paris“, insists the mayor of Paris with a fearless Wladimir Klitschko. “We can work together, strengthened by these experiences.»
This forum brought together around fifteen European mayors, including the mayor of Paris, as well as the brother of the mayor of kyiv, who could not be present, Wladimir Klitschko, former world boxing champion. Chaired by Philippe Close, mayor of Brussels, and the city councilor of kyiv – present by videoconference – the forum focused on the discussions on the current resilience of the Ukrainian capital, and the potential solutions to work on its reconstruction.
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«I am sure that Kyiv and the capital agglomeration have a unique chance to take a big step forward – in modernization, development, creation of comfortable conditions for living, working and learning opportunities for residents communities“, declared for his part Vitali Klitschko, mayor of kyiv, quoted by the Press Club Brussels Europe.
A metro renovation project, sponsored by fourteen European cities, has now been launched, but the need for infrastructure reconstruction remains immense. The mayor of kyiv said that his fellow citizens had already started to get involved: according to today, three quarters of the businesses closed following the Russian offensive are now open.
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