Brussels, 22/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The procedure for selecting European capitals of culture will be simplified thanks to an agreement concluded with the Council of Ministers and approved by the European Parliament in a second reading on 16 April.
Rapporteur Marco Scurria (EPP, Italy) welcomed the fact that infrastructure investment sustainability, access to other EU sources of funding and opportunities for cities to put forward regionally oriented proposals were also factors that would help optimise the Capitals of Culture initiative and “promote the development of cities and territories”. In the future, it will be the member state seeking to host the capitals of culture that will designate the city and no longer the Council, on the basis of recommendations by a group of experts. The Commission will then publish the name of the city in the Official Journal. Ireland and Croatia will be the countries hosting these capitals of culture in 2020 and they will benefit from extended deadlines for selecting their respective cities. The cities chosen that year are also being strongly encouraged to establish links between their respective cultural programmes in an effort to enhance inter-cultural dialogue.
In July 2012, the European Commission adopted a proposal extending the “European Capitals of Culture” initiative after 2019. The ongoing programme ends in 2019 and the Commission proposed that countries would put forward their cities' candidacies for the title up until 2033. The novelty consists in the fact that in addition to the two member states participating in the programme every year, candidate countries or potential accession candidate countries will also be able to propose their cities for the title of “European capitals of culture”. (IL)