| Author (Person) | Bower, Helen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | 9.7.02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 09/07/2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In 1985, Athens became the first city in Europe to be granted the accolade of 'European City of Culture'. Two decades later, Cork in Ireland will be the first European Capital of Culture to be chosen using a new selection procedure which takes effect from 2005. The original idea for a European City of Culture was conceived in the early 1980s by Melina Mercouri, who was the Greek Minister for Culture at the time, as a way of bringing European citizens closer together. It was launched by the Council of Ministers on 13 June 1985 and since then it has grown in popularity amongst European citizens and had a significant long-term cultural and socio-economic impact on the cities which have received the award. Under the original selection procedure, each European city of culture was designated on an intergovernmental basis. Member States unanimously selected the cities most likely to welcome the event and the European Commission granted a subsidy to the selected city each year. In 1999, the European City of Culture was renamed European Capital of Culture and its finance was allocated through the Culture 2000 programme. Until 1999, only one city received the award each year but in 2000 several cities were selected to celebrate the turn of the century and since then two cities have often shared the award. Bruges and Salamanca share the accolade of European Capital of Culture in 2002 and Graz will take over in 2003.
Genoa in Italy and Lille in France, which will play host to the European Capital of Culture in 2004, are the last two cities to be chosen under the original selection procedure. In 1999, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed to introduce a new selection procedure for the Capitals for 2005-2019 whereby the European institutions would take part in the choosing the cities. Under the new procedure one Member State every year will host the European capital of culture, for example: Ireland in 2005, Greece in 2006, Luxembourg in 2007 and the UK in 2008. The Member State whose turn it is proposes one or more candidate cities no later than four years before the year in which it will host the event. The applications will then be evaluated by a jury of seven independent experts from the cultural field, appointed by the European Parliament, the Council, the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions. Specific criteria will be used such as whether the candidate city has helped to promote European cultural trends and whether projects have been organised to foster sustainable cooperation in the cultural sphere between European cities. On the basis of the jury's evaluation, the European Parliament will give its opinion and then the Council will take the final decision, based on a recommendation from the European Commission. In 2000, Ireland was selected as the country which will play host to the European Capital of Culture in 2005 and it put forward the names of four candidate cities for 2005: Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. On 7 May 2002, at the conclusion of the new procedure, the Council acted in accordance with the opinion of the jury and the European Commission's recommendation and named Cork as the 'European capital of culture for 2005'. Greece, which will take its turn after Ireland, has proposed one candidate city, namely Patras, for 2006. Even though there is only one candidate, the jury will still draw up a report on the quality of the programme proposed by the city and the Council is expected to officially announce its selection for 2006 in early 2003. In tandem with the European Capital of Culture programme, an event known as the 'European Cultural Month' has also taken place since 1992. This event is similar to the European Capital of Culture but goes on for a shorter period and is addressed to Central and Eastern European countries in particular. The European Commission grants a subsidy for the European Cultural Month each year. Links: European Commission:
European Parliament / Council of the European Union: European Sources Online: Financial Times:
European Sources Online: European Voice:
Helen Bower Details of the new procedure that has been introduced for the selection of the European Capital of Culture. |
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| Subject Categories | Culture, Education and Research, Geography | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
