ICLEI Member Vitoria Gasteiz (Basque Country) received the “Sustainable Municipality of the Basque Country Award 2017” during a recent ceremony held at the Europa Conference Centre in the capital of Álava (Basque Country).

Vitoria Gasteiz received the award in recognition of their strategic approach to sustainability, their capacity to implement policies in a coordinated and cross-cutting way, and for their commitment to civic engagement and participation.

The Basque Government’s Minister for the Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing, Iñaki Arriola, presented the award to Itziar Gonzalo, the Deputy Mayor of Vitoria Gasteiz.

During the ceremony, Minister Iñaki Arriola stressed the lead role that local authorities play “in the transformation that today’s society requires.” Arriola also stressed the need to apply the principles proposed in the Basque Declaration as “the full integration in public policies of the objectives outlined in the Basque Declaration will enable the technological, socio-economic and socio-cultural transformation that Europe is seeking”.

For more information about the ceremony, click here.