Brussels, 1 October 2020
Member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko participated today in the session of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament, during which she introduced the report on the Union Initiative for European Capitals of Culture, on which she is working as rapporteur.
Zovko pointed out the importance of this report for cities Rijeka in Croatia and Galway in Ireland, which are the European Capitals of Culture for 2020. The organisation had to cancel many planned events due to the coronavirus pandemic. With this proposal, the European Union acknowledges these difficulties. The proposal is the result of close consultations with stakeholders in the capitals of culture, including the city councils and the Member States involved.
Zovko said that the goal of the report would be to grant an extension of the status of the current European Capital of Culture 2020 until the end of April 2021. The proposal also includes that the three Capitals of Culture for 2021 will be postponed to 2022 or 2023.
During her speech, Zovko emphasized the importance of providing additional European financial resources for Rijeka and Galway so that they could adequately show their creativity and cultural scene to Europe: “In addition to granting additional time, the Commission should also financially support these cities. The Commission cannot expect Member States alone to provide money for European Capitals of Culture.”- concluded Zovko.