Each year since 1985, EU ministers of culture have bestowed the title ‘European Capital of Culture’ on one or more cities in the Union. (Until 1999, the designation was ‘European City of Culture’). The initiative was launched by Melina Mercouri , the (then) Greek culture minister, during her country’s presidency of the Council of Ministers. Cities designated as Capitals of Culture benefit from financial support from the EU Budget in organising a special programme of concerts, exhibitions, film festivals and other cultural events with a pan-European dimension. To date, the award has been granted to the following cities:
1985 Athens
1986 Florence
1987 Amsterdam
1988 Berlin
1989 Paris
1990 Glasgow
1991 Dublin
1992 Madrid
1993 Antwerp
1994 Lisbon
1995 Luxembourg
1996 Copenhagen
1997 Thessaloniki
1998 Stockholm
1999 Weimar
2000 (see below)
2001 Rotterdam, Oporto
2002 Bruges, Salamanca
2003 Graz
2004 Genoa, Lille
2005 Cork
2006 Patras
2007 Luxembourg, Sibiu
2008 Liverpool, Stavanger
2009 Linz, Vilnius
2010 Essen, Pécs, Istanbul
2011 Turku, Tallinn
2012 Guimarãres, Maribor
2013 Marseille, Košice
2014 Umeå, Riga, Sarajevo
2015 Mons, Pizen
2016 San Sebastián, Wroclaw
Exceptionally, in view of the symbolic importance of the new millennium, nine cities were named for the year 2000: Avignon, Bergen, Bologna, Brussels, Helsinki, Kraków, Prague, Reykjavik and Santiago de Compostela.
Until 2004, the Capitals of Culture were designated by the Council of Ministers acting unanimously. The member-state government chose the city for the country in question, usually without any serious competition among candidates. Designation of the Capitals of Culture is now determined by a new system adopted by the Council and the European Parliament, under the co-decision procedure. In October 2006, arrangements were agreed for choosing cities for the years 2007-19. Two countries are chosen as recipients for each year, one of which is normally from a member state having joined since 2004. Non-EU states may also be included, as Norway (Stravanger) was in 2008 and Turkey (Istanbul) in 2010. A screening panel for each country each year draws up a short-list and makes a recommendation, on the basis of competitive bids. The Council, acting by qualified majority, then designates the two successful candidates at least four years in advance, with a monitoring phase thereafter. A parallel scheme for a ‘European Cultural Month’, involving cities outside the Union, was launched in 1992 but has since been discontinued.
September 2012
Copyright: Anthony Teasdale, 2012
Citation: The Penguin Companion to European Union (2012), additional website entry