The ECCAR General Assembly and Steering Committee meeting 2025 took place on 23 - 24 October at the Paulus Akademie in Zurich, bringing together representatives from over 86 cities and 15 countries, as well as from European institutions and civil society. Hosted by the City of Zurich, the event aimed to strengthen local and institutional responses to racism, offering a platform for both on-site and online participants to exchange experiences on driving institutional change through municipal anti-racism work in the fields of artificial intelligence, health, anti-Muslim racism, colonial legacies, and civic engagement. Panel discussions and workshops highlighted both shared challenges and innovative practices across ECCAR member cities, underlining the importance of sustained political commitment and cross-city cooperation.
At the meeting, eight new members were admitted to the Coalition: City of Frankfurt am Main (Germany), City of Kelkheim (Germany), City of Innsbruck (Austria), City of Yverdon-les-Bains (Switzerland), Canton of Fribourg (Switzerland), City of Fribourg (Switzerland), City of Bulle (Switzerland), and City of Hamm (Germany).
The General Assembly also selected a new Steering Committee for the 2025-2029 mandate, comprising 26 member cities and UNESCO:
Barcelona – Berlin – Bologna – Bonn – Bordeaux – Cagliari – Clermont-Ferrand – Cologne – Dortmund – Esch-sur-Alzette – Ghent – Graz – Heidelberg – Helsingborg – Jena – Lausanne – Malmö – Monheim am Rhein – Nantes – Nuremberg – Oslo – Oulu – Rotterdam – Vienna – Wroclaw – Zurich & UNESCO
The 27 members of the committee will actively shape the coalition's strategic work over the coming years and strengthen cities' role in the fight against racism. You can see the faces of the SC here in the introductory video.
A key highlight was the ECCAR Award 2025, celebrating outstanding municipal initiatives against racism. The General Assembly voted Esch-sur-Alzette (Luxembourg) as the winner in the category of cities with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, and Graz (Austria) as the winner in the category of cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Other finalists were Wörgl (Austria), Monheim am Rhein (Germany), Mannheim (Germany), and Villeurbanne (France).
The meeting concluded with a cultural programme in Zurich, reinforcing the link between historical reflection on colonialism and contemporary anti-racism action. Overall, the 2025 General Assembly and Steering Committee meeting in Zurich reaffirmed ECCAR’s role as a strong network of cities committed to combating racism, promoting equality, and translating human rights principles into concrete local policies.
