18 January 2023 – The Global Parliament of Mayors wishes to congratulate the city of Michałowo on being awarded the 2022 edition of the Mayor Paweł Adamowicz Award. The award will be officially presented to the Mayor Marek Nazarko of Michałowo during the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels on February 8, 2023 .
Michałowo and its citizens, together with the help of NGOs, provided clothing, warm meals, and accommodation to refugees who found themselves stranded between Poland and Belarus. Temporary housing in the municipality has also served families from Ukraine since the Russian invasion in March 2022. The award will be officially presented to the Mayor of Michałowo Marek Nazarko on 8th February 2023 during the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
Mayor Nazarko stated: ‘It is an amazing surprise because it was already a great honour for us just to be nominated for this award. To win the Paweł Adamowicz Award is a great privilege and source of pride for me as the head of the municipality. Above all, I am proud of our local people because we were able put into practice the values that the European Union brings, indeed, that humanity brings, and really bring them to life.’
There was a special mention to one of the nominees, Oleksandr Babich, the Mayor of Hola Prystan in the south of Ukraine, as a representative of all Ukrainian mayors who have been kidnapped or tortured since the start of the Russian invasion. Babich himself has been held captive since March 2022 for trying to protect his local community.
The Mayor Paweł Adamowicz Award was established in 2021 to honour political and civil society leaders in their fight against intolerance, oppression, and radicalisation. The Award is a partnership between the European Committee of the Regions, the City of Gdańsk, and ICORN, and was founded in memory of Mayor Paweł Adamowicz of Gdańsk who was assassinated in 2019.
The Global Parliament of Mayors participates in the selection committee of the Award.