European Capital of Culture 2016: How do we choose?

The selection process for the two cities which will be European Capital of Culture 2016 reaches a decisive stage: in one week the finalists are selected.

So far, the proposed countries (Spain and Poland) are holding all the cards in this game. In a few days we will know which cities are finally nominated.

European Capital of Culture 2016: selection process

• Submission of application: Six years prior to the event date, the interested European country (must be a member of the European Union) issues a call to submit an application. From there, the city has 10 months to appear and officially report to the European Commission. At this stage Granada and Santa Cruz de Tenerife decided not to appear. We are at this stage.

• Selection committee: A committee of thirteen members is formed: seven nominated by the European institutions and six by the member state concerned, after consulting with the Commission.

• Pre-selection: This committee assesses the applications that have taken part in the call no later than five years after the start of the event (in the case of Spain, before the end of 2010) and recommends a short list of candidate cities.

• Final selection: The preselected candidate cities complete their programmes within nine months (October 2011) which are assessed by the Selection Committee and from all of them it appoints one city as the European Capital of Culture.

• Appointment: The corresponding State member authority justifiably proposes a city to the European Parliament, the Commission, the Council and the Regions Committee four years after the start of the event (in Spain, before the end of 2011). Then, based on a recommendation by the Commission, Parliament’s opinion and the justifications and reports of the Assessment Committee, the Council will officially designate the cities which will be Cultural Capitals for the corresponding year.

European Capital of Culture 2016: Can we take part?

Yes, you can vote for your favourite of the candidate cities via the Candidate cities page. In the right hand column you will see a dialogue box where you can vote up to three times for one city in each country nominated.

In addition, the cities have opened websites and accounts on Facebook and Twitter to win support and report on actions taking place. These will be published tomorrow.

The results of the votes are not binding but give an idea of the popularity of candidates.

European Capital of Culture  2016: proposed cities

Poland

• Bialystok
• Bydgoszcz
• Wroclaw
• Gdansk
• Katowice
• Lodz
• Lublin
• Poznan
• Szczecin
• Torun
• Warsaw

Spain

• Alcala de Henares
• Oviedo
• Burgos
• Caceres
• Cordoba
• Cuenca
• Malaga
• Murcia
• Palma de Mallorca
• Segovia
• San Sebastian
• Santander
• Tarragona
• Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
• Zaragoza

In a few days we will know which cities continue their campaign. Good luck to each and every one.