PURPOSE: to amend Decision
No 445/2014/EU establishing a Union action for the European
Capitals of Culture for the years 2020 to 2033.
PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and
of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: in comparison with previous
Decision No 1622/2006/EC, Decision No 445/2014/EU extends the
action to candidate countries and potential candidates to EU
membership, providing that they participate in the Creative Europe
Programme or in the subsequent Union programmes supporting culture
at the date of publication of the call for applications.
As a result, every third year starting from 2021 (i.e.
in 2021, 2024, 2027, 2030 and 2033), cities from candidate
countries or potential candidates may hold the title.
However, Decision No 445/2014/EU does not include
European Free Trade Association countries which are parties to the
Agreement on the European Economic Area ("EFTA/EEA countries")
(Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).
In order to reinforce the cultural links between the
European Union and EFTA/EEA countries, it is proposed to modify
Decision No 445/2014/EU so as to make it possible for cities from
EFTA/EEA countries which participate in the Creative Europe
Programme or in the subsequent Union programmes supporting culture,
to apply for the ECOC title.
Furthermore, the inclusion of EFTA/EEA countries would
also be in line with Article 81 of the EEA Agreement and Article 13
of its Protocol 31 on the cooperation in specific fields outside
the four freedoms.
CONTENT: in its proposal, the Commission
proposes:
- to open the ECOC action to the participation of
cities from EFTA/EEA countries providing that these countries
participate in the Creative Europe Programme or in the subsequent
Union programmes supporting culture at the date of publication of
the call for submission of applications;
- in this perspective, to extend the open competition
for cities from candidate countries/potential candidates to cities
from EFTA/EEA countries;
- to have an ECOC title in a city from a candidate
country/potential candidate or an EFTA/EEA country in 2028 instead
of 2027 so as to make it possible for these countries to negotiate
their participation in the Union programme supporting culture that
will follow Creative Europe for the period 2021 to 2027 before the
Commission publishes the relevant call for submission of
applications at the latest six years before the year of the
title;
- to modify the calendar in the Annex of Decision No
445/2014/EU accordingly.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: the Commission's proposal has
no direct budgetary implication, as the Melina Mercouri Prize and
the costs of the members of the expert panel designated by Union
institutions and bodies are covered by the existing resources of
the Creative Europe programme for the 2014-2020 financial
framework, or will be covered by the subsequent Union programmes
supporting culture for the years after 2020.
Furthermore, the proposal will not result in a higher
number of European Capitals of Culture over the period from 2020 to
2033 because the cities from EFTA/EEA countries will compete with
cities from candidate countries/potential candidates which were
already part of the competition.