Mayor of Wrocław receives award for shaping the European character of the city

The German National Foundation has awarded its German National Prize 2017 to Rafał Dutkiewicz, the Mayor of Wrocław. The official awarding ceremony was held on Tuesday, June 13, 2017. Senator Dirk Reimers justified the awarding of the prize to Wrocław Mayor by saying that “Rafał Dutkiewicz has particularly contributed to the shaping of the European character of his city and the Polish-German relations”. Since 2002, when he became Mayor, he has been transforming the difficult and multifaceted history of the city into its own identity open to the world, thus contributing to building bridges between Poland and Germany. He is a Polish politician with European horizons, and the German National Prize is a token of gratitude to all Poles who contribute to the harmonious coexistence of Poles and Germans in the united Europe. The shaping of a multicultural Europe Rafał Dutkiewicz has rendered great service towards the shaping the Polish-German relations as well as the integration of both countries in the united Europe. Since 2002, he has been an originator of numerous initiatives that remind us of the complex history of Wrocław and present the city as being open yet boasting its own identity, one oriented towards the future of Europe. In 2011, Wrocław was awarded the Polish-German prize for outstanding merit in the area of developing Polish-German relations. The prize has been awarded since 1996 by the governments of Poland and Germany in the spirit of the Treaty of Good Neighbourhood and Friendly Cooperation of June 17, 1991. In 2016, Rafał Dutkiewicz was awarded by the Dresden Club of Journalists with Erich Kästner Prize for his many-sided commitment to the peaceful shaping of a multicultural Europe and involvement in the Wrocław-Dresden partnership. In Poland, he was awarded the Certificate of Merit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for “promoting Poland outside the country” (2006), and the Order of Polonia Restituta (2009) for “outstanding services to the development of the territorial self-government and great achievements in professional and social work for the benefit of the country”. Moreover, he received high-profile decorations of Belgium (2006), Italy (2008), Sweden (2011), and France (2011). Since 2011, he has been a member of Academia Europea, established in 1988 in Cambridge. http://www.wroclaw.pl