16.5.2006   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 115/56

1.1

regards the ECOC as a powerful tool to showcase, support, enrich and experience European and local cultures and appreciates that ECOC designation has very positive impacts for cities, not just in the cultural sector, but in providing economic and employment opportunities in the tourism, leisure and sports sectors and in acting as a catalyst for city regeneration;

1.2

recognises that the impact of the ECOC can be greater when the event is an integral part of a city's long-term cultural development strategy and feels that it is important that the ECOC promote more sustainable approaches to cultural development. Furthermore, the Committee recognises that the ECOC is increasingly adopting a regional dimension, with cities involving their surrounding areas in the development and implementation of their cultural programmes;

1.3

considers that the value and potential of the ECOC has been underestimated, primarily as a result of low levels of EU financial assistance, a lack of focus on developing the European dimension of the ECOC and developing visibility for cities and an absence of support in helping cities to prepare and implement their cultural programmes;

1.4

considers that in the past the European Union has missed an opportunity to exploit the ECOC initiative to help promote European integration and identity, bearing in mind the ECOC's high visibility and broad awareness. The Committee feels that the ECOC can help citizens identify favourably with the European Union.

1.5

welcomes the proposal from the European Commission to reform the selection procedure for the ECOC and to provide a monitoring process for designated cities during the preparations of their cultural programmes;

1.6

considers that the proposal from the European Commission addresses many of the weaknesses of the current selection process and accepts that the proposed approach represents a good balance between the need: to have a genuine element of competition between cities; to enhance the role of the selection panel; to have greater emphasis on the European dimension of the ECOC; and to recognise the input of the Member States and the role of the Council in the nomination and designation process;

1.7

welcomes and supports the following aspects of the proposed selection and monitoring procedure:

1.8

asks the European Commission to fully consider the central role cities will play during the selection and monitoring process and in this regard feels that the proposal, as currently drafted, is both ambiguous and prescriptive and provides uncertainty for cities wishing to host the ECOC;

1.9

has some reservations about the following aspects of the proposed selection and monitoring procedure:

1.10

considers that further clarification is required on some aspects of the proposed selection and monitoring procedure, in particular:

1.11

supports the composition of the Selection Panel (as set out in Article 5), with 13 members, seven from the EU Institutions and six nominated by the Member States concerned. However, requests that Member States include one nominee from the relevant national association representing local and/or urban government;

1.12

welcomes the criteria to have linkages between the programmes of the two designated cities, as it advocated in its previous opinion (CdR 393/2003 fin) and feels that the Monitoring Panel has a key role to play in ensuring that these synergies are developed in the programme preparation phase;

1.13

emphasises that all Member States are treated as equal in the ECOC initiative, regardless of the date of their accession. The Committee is disappointed that the European Commission has again made no provision for further enlargements of the Union and asks the European Commission to clarify the situation for countries currently negotiating their membership.

1.14

welcomes the proposal in the Culture 2007 programme providing for a tripling of the Community contribution to each Capital of Culture as compared to the current programme, as it believes that this will maximise the visibility of the EU's involvement, match the renewed emphasis on the European dimension of the cultural programmes of the cities and help to better meet the expectation of the designated cities;

1.15

cautions against any reduction in the budget for the European Capital of Culture, within the Culture 2007 programme, in the on-going negotiations on the Financial Perspectives 2007-2013;

1.16

feels that the Commission needs to immediately clarify its proposal on how it wishes to financially support designated cities through a ‘prize’ and to explain the potential benefits such a procedure gives to designated cities over current practice. Furthermore, the Committee would ask the Commission to use a term other than ‘prize’ for providing such assistance, as a prize suggests a reward or honour for winning a contest as opposed to a payment for fulfilling certain programme criteria;

1.17

is concerned by the long delays often experienced by cities in the processing of payments by the European Commission to the Capitals of Culture, where cities may not receive a significant amount of funds until after the year of designation has been completed;

1.18

would welcome further proposals on other ways in which the European Commission could support and assist the designated cities in preparing and implementing their cultural programmes;

1.19

furthermore would welcome support from the European Commission for cities, after their designated year has ended, to ensure that the impacts of the ECOC are sustained over a longer time period and that there is a cultural legacy in the city. The Monitoring Panel could play a role here in ensuring that the sustainability of action in the cultural sector is built into cities' programmes, but EU financial assistance would help deliver this.

1.20

supports the Commission's general proposal regarding the inclusion of third countries in the ECOC through the resumption of the ‘cultural month’ initiative, rather than having an additional ECOC from a third country. The Committee would however like clarification on how the ‘cultural month’ initiative would be financially supported at the EU level;

1.21

considers that there must be synergies between the designated ECOC and the (at least two) cities hosting the ‘cultural month’ initiative, with such links focusing mainly on cross-border and inter-regional cultural cooperation. These actions and the linkages with the ‘cultural month’ should be a central element of the ECOC cultural programmes, as the Committee considers that such an approach would enhance the European dimension of the ECOC;

1.22

therefore, considers that the proposal on the future involvement of third countries should have been developed in conjunction with the current proposal on the ECOC, with a view to the designation processes happening at the same time for the ECOC and the ‘cultural month’ initiative.

1.23

remains strongly committed to being involved in the ECOC action and is willing to continue to be an active member in the selection and monitoring process proposed by the European Commission;

1.24

would like the wording on the nomination of members to the selection panel (as set out in Article 5) clarified, to ensure that one of its elected members continues to represent the Committee in the designation process. The Committee would also like to continue the practice of nominating an ad-personam alternate, in order to maintain its active involvement in the event of inability of its representative on the panel to attend meetings.

2.1

recommends that cities use the ECOC as part of a long-term cultural development strategy in order to promote more sustainable approaches to cultural development and enhance the impact and legacy of the ECOC in cities;

2.2

asks the European Parliament, Council and European Commission to keep potential delays between the nomination of the cities by the Member States and the designation by the Council to a minimum, in order to give cities the maximum time for programme preparation;

2.3

requests that Member States include one nominee from the relevant national association representing local and/or urban government, as a member of its six nominees to the ECOC selection panel.

2.4

asks the European Commission to reduce the administrative burden placed on designated cities during the preparation process, with the implementation of the new monitoring arrangements;

2.5

requests that the designated cities are informed, well in advance of the implementation of their programme, of the amount of EU financial assistance they will receive in order to assist the planning process. The Committee is encouraged by the intention of the European Commission to award the ‘prize’ to the cities, that meet the criteria, six months in advance of the year of designation commencing but would like further information on how and under what conditions the ‘prize’ would be awarded;

2.6

demands that the European Commission immediately streamlines procedures for the application of funds and speeds up the processing of payment of these funds to the Capitals of Culture;

2.7

requests that the European Commission, as part of the monitoring process, enables designated cities to have ready access to practical experience and expertise by supporting the provision of a mentoring service. This service should be responsive and tailored to cities' needs and should be additional to any information provided to cities via the Commission's website and could be delivered either by:

2.8

asks the European Commission to make further proposals on other ways in which it could support and assist the designated cities in preparing and implementing their cultural programmes, in particular through:

2.9

requests the European Commission to provide some financial and other supports to cities, after their designated year has ended, to ensure that the impacts of the ECOC are sustained over a longer time period and that there is a cultural legacy in the city;

2.10

asks the European Commission to clarify, without delay, the provisions in the ECOC for further enlargements of the Union;

2.11

recommends that two cities from third countries host the ‘cultural month’ initiative and that these cities be designated at the same time as the ECOC, in order to allow synergies develop between them at an early stage in preparations and to enhance the European dimension of the ECOC cultural programmes.

2.12

underlines that its representative on the Selection Panel must continue to be one of its elected members, as has been standard practice in the past, and to facilitate internal coordination, requests that this representative be appointed for two years, rather than three years.

2.13

asks that the proposal for a Decision would confirm the role of the Committee of the Regions in the Monitoring Panel and that this panel would be tasked with and play an active role in ensuring that the synergies between the cultural programmes of the designated cities are developed in the programme preparation phase.