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A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for a city to generate considerable cultural, social, and economic benefits, and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city's image, and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale. Multiple cities can be a European Capital of Culture simultaneously.

In 1985, Melina Mercouri, Greece's Minister of Culture, and her French counterpart Jack Lang came up with the idea of designating an annual City of Culture to bring Europeans closer together by highlighting the richness and diversity of European cultures and raising awareness of their common history and values.

The Commission of the European Union manages the title, and each year the Council of Ministers of the European Union formally designates European Capitals of Culture: more than 40 cities have been designated so far. The current European Capitals of Culture for 2024 are Tartu in Estonia, Bad Ischl in Austria and Bodø in Norway.

Selection process

An international panel of cultural experts is in charge of assessing the proposals of cities for the title according to criteria specified by the European Union.

For two of the capitals each year, eligibility is open to cities in EU member states only. From 2021 and every three years thereafter, a third capital will be chosen from cities in countries that are candidates or potential candidates for membership, or in countries that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA)– an example of the latter being Stavanger, Norway, which was a European Capital of Culture in 2008.

A 2004 study conducted for the Commission, known as the "Palmer report", demonstrated that the choice of European Capital of Culture served as a catalyst for cultural development and the transformation of the city. Consequently, the beneficial socio-economic development and impact for the chosen city are now also considered in determining the chosen cities.

Bids from five United Kingdom cities to be the 2023 Capital of Culture were disqualified in November 2017, because the UK was planning to leave the EU before 2023.

History

The European Capital of Culture programme was initially called the European City of Culture and was conceived in 1983, by Melina Mercouri, then serving as minister of culture in Greece. Mercouri believed that at the time, culture was not given the same attention as politics and economics and a project for promoting European cultures within the member states should be pursued.

The European City of Culture programme was launched in the summer of 1985 with Athens being the first title-holder. In 1999, the European City of Culture program was renamed to European Capital of Culture.

List of European Capitals of Culture

Year	#	City	Country	Notes/Links	Candidate cities
1985		Athens	Greece
1986		Florence	Italy
1987		Amsterdam	Netherlands
1988		West Berlin	West Berlin	City under Western Allied occupation until 1990; territory was claimed by the Federal Republic of Germany. The name "European City of Culture" was used instead of "Capital" in order to not provoke the East German government.
1989		Paris	France
1990		Glasgow	United Kingdom	Glasgow Garden Festival
1991		Dublin	Ireland
1992		Madrid	Spain
1993		Antwerp	Belgium
1994		Lisbon	Portugal
1995		Luxembourg City	Luxembourg
1996		Copenhagen	Denmark
1997		Thessaloniki	Greece
1998		Stockholm	Sweden
1999		Weimar	Germany
2000		Avignon	France	The year 2000 was called the millennium year and treated in a special way, in order to emphasize the enduring heritage and contribution of European cities to world culture and civilization. Because of that, nine locations were chosen, including two cities of states that were to join the EU on 1 May 2004.
		Bergen	Norway
		Bologna	Italy
		Brussels	Belgium
		Helsinki	Finland
		Kraków	Poland
		Prague	Czech Republic
		Reykjavík	Iceland
		Santiago de Compostela	Spain
2001		Rotterdam	Netherlands
		Porto	Portugal
2002		Bruges	Belgium
		Salamanca	Spain
2003		Graz	Austria
2004		Genoa	Italy
		Lille	France
2005		Cork	Ireland	Cork Caucus	Galway, Limerick, Waterford
2006		Patras	Greece
2007		Sibiu	Romania
		Luxembourg City	Luxembourg
2008		Liverpool	United Kingdom		Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Newcastle and Gateshead (joint bid), Oxford
		Stavanger	Norway
2009		Vilnius	Lithuania
		Linz	Austria	Linz 2009
2010		Essen	Germany	Representing the whole Ruhr as Ruhr.2010.	Braunschweig, Bremen, Essen, Görlitz, Halle an der Saale, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Lübeck, Potsdam, Regensburg
		Istanbul	Turkey
		Pécs	Hungary
2011		Turku	Finland	Turku 2011
		Tallinn	Estonia
2012		Guimarães	Portugal
		Maribor	Slovenia
2013		Marseille	France	Marseille-Provence 2013	Bordeaux Lyon Toulouse
		Košice	Slovakia
2014		Riga	Latvia
		Umeå	Sweden
2015		Mons	Belgium
		Plzeň	Czech Republic
2016		San Sebastián	Spain	Donostia 2016	Burgos, Córdoba, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Segovia, Zaragoza
		Wrocław	Poland		Gdańsk, Katowice, Lublin, Warsaw
2017		Aarhus	Denmark	Aarhus 2017	Sønderborg
		Paphos	Cyprus	Pafos 2017	Limassol, Nicosia
2018		Leeuwarden	Netherlands		Eindhoven, Maastricht, The Hague, Utrecht
		Valletta	Malta	Valletta 2018
2019		Matera	Italy	Matera 2019	Cagliari, Lecce, Perugia, Ravenna, Siena
		Plovdiv	Bulgaria	Plovdiv 2019	Sofia, Varna, Veliko Turnovo
2020 – April 2021		Rijeka	Croatia	Rijeka 2020	Dubrovnik, Osijek, Pula
		Galway	Ireland	Galway 2020	Limerick, The Three Sisters (joint bid Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny)
2022		Kaunas	Lithuania	Kaunas 2022	Klaipėda
		Esch-sur-Alzette	Luxembourg	Esch-sur-Alzette 2022
		Novi Sad	Serbia	Novi Sad 2022 (Coronavirus postponement)
2023		Veszprém	Hungary	Veszprém 2023	Debrecen, Győr
		Timișoara	Romania	Timișoara 2023 (Coronavirus postponement)	Baia Mare, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca
		Eleusis	Greece	Eleusis 2023 (Coronavirus postponement)	Kalamata, Rhodes
2024	1	Tartu	Estonia	Tartu 2024	Kuressaare, Narva
	2	Bad Ischl	Austria	Salzkammergut 2024	Dornbirn, St. Pölten
	3	Bodø	Norway	Bodø 2024	Banja Luka, Mostar
2025		Nova Gorica/Gorizia joint bid	Slovenia  Italy	GO! 2025	Ljubljana, Piran, Ptuj
		Chemnitz	Germany	Chemnitz 2025	Hannover, Hildesheim, Magdeburg, Nuremberg
2026		Trenčín	Slovakia	Trenčín 2026	Nitra, Žilina
		Oulu	Finland	Oulu 2026	Savonlinna, Tampere
2027		Liepāja	Latvia	Liepāja 2027	Daugavpils, Valmiera
		Évora	Portugal	Évora 2027	Aveiro, Braga, Ponta Delgada
2028	1	České Budějovice	Czech Republic	České Budějovice 2028	Broumov, Brno, Liberec
	2	Bourges	France	Bourges 2028	Clermont-Ferrand, Montpellier, Rouen, Saint-Denis
	3	Skopje	North Macedonia	Skopje 2028	Budva
2029		Lublin	Poland	Lublin 2029	Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Kołobrzeg
		Kiruna	Sweden		Uppsala
2030	1	TBA 2025	Cyprus		Larnaca, Limassol, Nicosia
	2	TBA September 2025	Belgium	shortlisted cities: Leuven, Molenbeek, Namur	Bruges, Ghent, Kortrijk
	3	TBA	TBA		Lviv, Nikšić
2031		TBA	Malta		Birgu, Victoria
		TBA	Spain		potential candidates: Burgos, Cáceres, Granada, Jerez de la Frontera, Las Palmas, Toledo
2032		TBA	Bulgaria
		TBA	Denmark		potential candidate: Næstved
2033	1	TBA	Netherlands		potential candidate: Heerlen
	2	TBA	Italy		potential candidates: Turin, Pesaro/Urbino, Viterbo
	3	TBA	TBA

The European Capital of Culture was due to be in the UK in 2023. However, due to its decision to leave the European Union, UK cities would no longer be eligible to hold the title after 2019. The European Commission's Scotland office confirmed that this would be the case on 23 November 2017, only one week before the UK was due to announce which city would be put forward. The candidate cities were Dundee, Leeds, Milton Keynes, Nottingham and a joint bid from Northern Irish cities of Belfast and Derry and the town of Strabane.

A new framework makes it possible for cities in candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine), potential candidates for EU membership (Kosovo) or EFTA member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) to hold the title every third year as of 2021. This will be selected through an open competition, meaning that cities from various countries may compete with each other.

See also

• European Union
• Europe

• American Capital of Culture – In the Americas, title awarded annually by American Capital of Culture, an NGO
• Arab Capital of Culture – Arab League effort to promote and celebrate Arab culture
• European Green Capital Award – Award for a European city based on its environmental record
• European Youth Capital – One year city award
• European Region of Gastronomy – Regional title
• UK City of Culture – Cultural designation in the United Kingdom
• University Network of the European Capitals of Culture – International non-profit association

References

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External links

• European Capitals of Culture
• Decision No 1622/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 establishing a Community action for the European Capital of Culture event for the years 2007 to 2019
• Decision No 445/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 establishing a Union action for the European Capitals of Culture for the years 2020 to 2033 and repealing Decision No 1622/2006/EC

• Cultural policies of the European Union
• Lists of cities in Europe
• Capitals in Europe
• Lists of capitals