Brussels, 24/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The official inauguration of "Brussels 2000", European City of Culture, is to be held this Friday on the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels. Among other personalities, Mrs. Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Culture, will take part in the ceremony. In the afternoon, she will receive the mayors of the nine cities chosen as European Cities of Culture for the year 2000: Avignon, Bergen, Bologna, Brussels, Krakow, Helsinki, Prague Reykjavik and Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. Throughout the year, these cities will organise events intended to highlight the wealth of cultures and creation in Europe. Each will receive financial backing from the European Union, in the framework of the new "Culture 2000" programme.
Austrian complaints to the European Commission and European Parliament
Following the arrival of the far-right in the Austrian Government, Francois-Xavier de Donnea, burgomaster of Brussels and President of the Association Bruxelles/Brussel 2000, cancelled the invitation addressed to Austria for the inauguration of "Brussels 2000". This decision was strongly disputed by the Austrian Ambassador to the European Union, Gregor Woschnagg, in letters to Mrs. Reding and the President of the European Parliament, Nicole Fontaine. "The Brussels 2000 event involves credits from the EU budget and some decisions taken among the Fifteen (…) and excluding Austria from the opening ceremony is not justified", he told a few journalists on Thursday. In his letter to Mrs. Fontaine, he said he found it incomprehensible that in Parliament, where the ceremony is taking place, one could accept "discrimination" contrary to the spirit of solidarity that should characterise the EU. "Our invitation having been withdrawn, we shall not be present at the ceremony", he stated.
Mrs. Reding's spokesman stressed that the European Commission was in no way involved in the one-off problem of the inauguration of "Brussels 2000". "Austria will not be discriminated against, and will take part in all European programmes", he declared, but "the European City of Culture, even though it receives an EU subsidy, is not a Community programme, it is an intergovernmental programme". The Commission's services are, however, examining whether the decision of the French community of Belgium of suspending its relations with Austria does not in fact constitute an infringement to the rules of the Single Market. They will, in particular, ensure that there is no discrimination towards Austrian students in Belgium, said the spokesman.