European Cultural Space in the European Cities of Culture (in Special Issue: Cultural Spaces in Europe)

Abstract: This article considers the role of European Union (EU) cultural policy within the process of Europeanization. It will trace the development of EU competence on cultural matters in general, and of the flagship programme 'European City of Culture' in particular. The latter will be observed both in its overall implementation and in the exceptional edition of 2000, when in order to celebrate the millennium nine cities shared the title, allegedly bringing the European reconfiguration of space into full light. This will show that the minutiae of cultural policy-making are never far removed from far-reaching discourses on European identity. How the gap is overcome, rhetorically and practically, provides the strategic vantage point for analyzing how the creation of a 'European cultural space' may be suggesting new ways to think of spatiality in its connection to culture and identity formation.