The Bulgarian Danube port and town of Lom is among the four cities to be awarded the 2008 Dosta!-Congress Prize for Municipalities. Photo by PicturesofBulgaria.com
The Bulgarian Danube port and town of Lom is among the four cities to be awarded the 2008 Dosta!-Congress Prize for Municipalities, the Council of Europe press center informed Wednesday.
The awards ceremony will take place Wednesday March 4 2009, at the Hemycicle of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (France).
Ian Micallef, President ad interim of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and Henry Scicluna, Council of Europe Coordinator on Roma activities, will award the Dosta!-Congress Prize to the winning municipalities.
Mostar and Prijedor, respectively in Bosnia and Herzegovina won the joint first prize, Volos in Greece is the second prize recipient and Bulgaria's Lom will be bestowed the third prize as winning municipalities of the 2008 edition. The towns are awarded for their creative and innovative initiatives, which most effectively ensure diversity in community life and the active democratic participation of the Roma.
The awards will be received by the Mayor of Mostar, Ljubo Beslic, the Mayor of Prijedor, Marko Pavic, the Mayor of Volos, Alekos Voulgaris, and Mayor of Lom Penka Penkova.
At the end of the award ceremony, Roma artist Simona Jovic will perform a traditional Roma dance from the Balkans.
The Dosta!-Congress Prize for Municipalities is part of the Council of Europe awareness-raising campaign to fight prejudice against Roma. "Dosta" is a Romani word meaning "enough".