Recommendation for a Council Decision on the European Capital of Culture event for the year 2014
Date: 2010-04-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Latvia, Sweden, capital city, cultural event, cultural policy, town

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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 23.4.2010 
COM(2010)178 final 

Recommendation for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

On the European Capital of Culture event for the year 2014 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

Decision  1622/2006/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  24  October  2006 
establishing a Community action for the European Capital of Culture event for the years 2007 
to  2019,1  lays  down  the  procedure  of  designation  of  the  European  Capitals  of  Culture. 
According to Article 2 of this Decision, from 2009 onwards, two cities of two Member States 
will  be  designated  as  European  Capitals  of  Culture,  in  turn,  according  to  the  chronological 
order set out in the Annex to the Decision. Sweden and Latvia are entitled to host the event in 
2014. 

The  nomination  for  European  Capitals  of  Culture  concerning  the  year  2014  onwards  is 
submitted to the following process. 

A call for submissions of applications is published by each of the Member States concerned 
no  later  than  six  years  before  the  event.  A  selection  panel  composed  of  13  independent 
experts in the cultural sector is convened for a pre selection meeting no later than five years 
before the event. It assesses the applications received against the criteria laid down in article 4 
of  Decision  1622/2006/EC  and  agrees  on  a  short  list  of  candidate  cities  which  have  to  be 
considered further after completing their application. 

Each of the Member States concerned convenes the panel for final selection, 9 months after 
the pre-selection meeting. After an extensive evaluation of the pre selected cities based on the 
criteria laid down for the action, the panel recommends one city for the title in each Member 
State concerned. 

On  the  basis  of  these  recommendations,  both  Member  States  nominate  one  city  each  to  be 
European  Capital  of  Culture  and  notify  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council,  the 
Commission  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  no  later  than  four  years  before  the  event  in 
question is due to begin.  

The European Parliament may forward an opinion to the Commission no later than 3 months 
after receipt of the nominations.  

The  Council,  acting  on  a  recommendation  from  the  Commission,  officially  designates  the 
cities in question for the year for which they have been nominated.  

After completion of the two rounds competition described above, the panel recommended that 
Umeå (Sweden) and Riga (Latvia) host the event in 2014 in its reports dated September 2009. 
Both Member States notified these nominations to the European Parliament, the Council, the 
Commission and the Committee of the Regions by end 2009. 

The European Parliament forwarded its positive opinion to the Commission in early January 
2010.  

Consequently,  the  Commission,  in  accordance  with  Article  9.3  of  Decision  1622/2006/EC 
submits  to  the  Council  the  appended  recommendation  for  the  official  designation  of  Umeå 
and Riga respectively for the 2014 European Capital of Culture event. 

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OJ L 304 of 3.11.2006, p1 

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Recommendation for a 

COUNCIL DECISION 

On the European Capital of Culture event for the year 2014 

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

Having regard to the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, 

Having  regard  to  Decision  n°  1622/2006/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council 
establishing a Community action for the European Capital of Culture event for the years 2007 
to 20192,  

Having  regard  to  the  Selection  Panel  reports  of  September  2009  regarding  the  selection 
process  of  the  European  Capitals  of  Culture  in  Sweden  and  Latvia  respectively  and  the 
positive opinion issued by the European Parliament,  

Considering  that  the  criteria  referred  to  in  Article  4  of  Decision  1622/2006/EC  are  entirely 
fulfilled, 

Having regard to the recommendation from the Commission of the ----------------- 2010,  

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION : 

Article 1 

Umeå (Sweden) and Riga (Latvia) are designated as “European Capital of Culture 2014”. 

Done at Brussels,  

For the Council 
The President 

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