Five Polish cities crossing fingers before Cultural Capital decision
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
21.06.2011 11:40
Representatives of Warsaw and Wroclaw are fielding questions from an international panel of experts in the last day of the selection process to nominate a Polish city to serve as the European Capital of Culture in 2016.
Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
The questions, which follow a thirty-minute presentation of the city’s proposed contribution to European culture, concern the details of the cultural programme, transportation and tourist infrastructure, the planned investments, the source of financing and such philosophical problems as the notion of beauty.
A representative of the Baltic city of Gdansk, Slawomir Czarnecki, who took his turn before the experts’ panel, Monday, said afterwards that one of the questions related to the place of the legacy of Solidarity in the city’s strategy.
“We were asked if we were not afraid of a politicisation of the Solidarity project,” Czarnecki said. The delegates of Katowice and Lublin also had their last chance to present their assets yesterday.
The experts will announce their ruling later today. The final decision approving one Polish and one Spanish city as the European Capitals of Culture in 2016 will be taken by the Council of the European Union in the second quarter of 2012, after consultations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.
The selection panel consists of 13 people, seven appointed by EU Institutes and six Polish experts. (mk/jb)