European capital of culture: Community action, years 2005 to 2019

Commissioner Oreja stated that the Member States must play an important role in the presentation of projects, in a way that, thanks to their support, the financial feasibility of the initiatives will be ensured. This is the reason why he rejected amendment 8. As for amendments 9 (last part) and 10, the Commissioner cannot accept them because co-decision is an instrument provided by the Treaty as a means to adopt measures that aim at cultural promotion and a general scope; this is not the case for designation procedure of a town as cultural capital, which must be quick and simplified. On these 2 points, the rapporteur replied, on the one hand, that the fact of allowing towns to directly submit their documents to the Commission should be used to underline the Community aspect of the procedure by avoiding the diminishing of the role of the European Capital of Culture; as for the assumed length of the co-decision, the procedure in question shows that the Parliament is in a position to give its opinion as a co-decider in less than three months; and he concluded by calling on the Executive to reinfore, instead of destroying, the cultural symbols of the Union.�