Brussels, 03/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission announced on Thursday 3 April that Essen (Germany), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Nijmegen (the Netherlands), Oslo (Norway) and Umea (Sweden) have been selected as the five finalists to advance to the next stage of the European Green Capital 2016 Award. The Award is presented to one European city every year, commending its achievements in environmental sustainability. For the first year since its conception, cities across Europe with more than 100,000 inhabitants were eligible to apply; previously only cities with a population of 200,000 or more qualified.
The shortlisted cities will now go forward to present their vision, their potential to act as a role model to other cities, and their communication strategy to the jury in Copenhagen, the current European Green Capital, on 23 June. Following the jury's deliberations the European Green Capital 2016 will be announced the following day, 24 June, at an official award ceremony in Copenhagen. (MD)