Contracting Authority: European Committee of the Regions (CoR)
Period: 2025 – 2026
URL: Preparing for the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) action post-2033 from a local and regional perspective: The role and legacy of LRAs in implementing the ECoC initiative
Description:
This study is situated within the preparatory work undertaken by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) ahead of the forthcoming revision of the legal framework governing the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) Action beyond 2033. As the European Commission advances towards the regulatory revision for the next programming cycle, a comprehensive assessment of the Action from a local and regional perspective has acquired considerable institutional urgency.
The ECoC has evolved substantially since its inception in 1985. Successive legal reforms have reconstituted it from being an intergovernmental initiative celebrating European cultural diversity into a structured, multi-level governance instrument linking cultural investment with urban regeneration, social cohesion and territorial development. The progressive formalisation of selection criteria, monitoring obligations and evaluation requirements has strengthened the Action’s credibility while intensifying the administrative, financial and institutional demands placed upon host cities. It is against this backdrop that the CoR commissioned this study, to assess the role and legacy of local and regional authorities (LRAs) across the full lifecycle of the initiative and formulating forward-looking policy recommendations addressed to the European Commission, Member States and LRAs.
The research combined documentary analysis and a review of best practices with primary empirical data collection through a structured online survey, semistructured interviews with LRA representatives, and a participatory foresight workshop.
The study’s findings are organised into three categories: the challenges facing LRAs, the opportunities created by the Action and the policies needed for the post-2033 framework.
On the side of challenges, the evidence reveals persistent structural constraints across the full ECoC lifecycle. The bid preparation phase, while generating substantial institutional value, including more coherent place-based cultural strategies, more robust stakeholder networks and more mature governance capacities, remains a resource-intensive process bearing disproportionately on smaller and less-resourced municipalities. Financial constraints, insufficient administrative capacity, inter-institutional coordination difficulties and time pressures are the predominant barriers reported, and their cumulative effect systematically disadvantages cities with limited prior experience. A clear trend towards greater territorial diversification is confirmed by the analysis of all 324 cities engaged with the Action between 1985 and 2033, with intermediate regions, post-industrial urban areas and rural territories increasingly present across successive cycles. Yet, this broadening of participation has not been matched by a commensurate reduction in the institutional asymmetries conditioning competitiveness. During the implementation phase, a recurrent structural tension emerges between the political accountability borne by LRAs and the operational delegation increasingly assigned to ad hoc delivery bodies. Where responsibilities are clearly defined and coordination mechanisms are robust, this configuration supports programme quality. Where they are not, accountability gaps and strategic discontinuity arise. The financial architecture of the Action compounds these challenges further: the post-hoc disbursement of the Melina Mercouri Prize, released only upon completion of the title year, concentrates financial risk on LRAs during the phases of greatest resource intensity.
In terms of opportunities, the analysis shows that the ECoC has considerable potential as a driver of place-based institutional reform and cultural development. Even in cases where participation in the ECoC Action was ultimately unsuccessful, the candidature process generated lasting institutional benefits. This study further identifies a consistent three-stage dynamic in the distribution of ECoC-related impacts during the bid phase, the title year and the post-event period. Impacts associated with cultural tourism and territorial development strategies demonstrate the greatest durability when they are anchored within preexisting policy frameworks and supported by active local networks. Overall, findings indicate that the most significant and lasting outcomes are achieved where governance models are embedded within credible long-term development strategies and supported by broad territorial coordination. The capacity to sustain these effects depends on a set of enabling factors, including sustained political commitment, financial continuity, ongoing stakeholder engagement and the deliberate integration of ECoC initiatives into wider territorial development frameworks. Where these factors align, ECoC investments are more likely to evolve into structural components of local cultural ecosystems and contribute to long-term economic and institutional development.
A foresight analysis and a participatory workshop converged on a defining strategic question for the post-2033 ECoC revision. Two contrasting scenarios were tested with stakeholders: one in which social inclusion, climate resilience and digital innovation function as binding eligibility conditions with independently monitored indicators, and legacy planning is formalised as a compulsory component of bid documentation supported by multi-year financial commitments; and one in which these dimensions retain a declaratory character and the Action risks progressive assimilation into a conventional EU cultural funding instrument of limited transformative reach. The workshop confirmed that local ownership, inclusive governance and long-term political commitment across electoral cycles are decisive conditions for steering the Action towards a more transformative trajectory.
Based on these findings, a set of policy recommendations was therefore formulated for EU institutions, Member States and LRAs. The European Commission is called upon to introduce measurable participation requirements for all cities engaging with the Action, to reinforce and make the Melina Mercouri Prize flexible in its disbursement, to establish contingency funding mechanisms for unforeseen disruptions during the ECoC title year, to review eligibility criteria to facilitate cross-border applications, to strengthen the transparency of the selection process, to create a structured platform for capacity building amongst ECoC cities, and to institutionalise the participation of LRAs within ECoC governance, monitoring, and decision-making structures through formal multilevel governance mechanisms and technical support facilities. Member States are called upon to strengthen their strategic support for candidate cities throughout the application process. It is recommended that LRAs establish dedicated institutional arrangements with a view to supporting both bid development and activity continuity following the title year. In addition, integrated cultural strategies explicitly linking programming to wider societal objectives should be designed. The analytical thread running through this study is consistent: the ECoC realises its fullest territorial and cultural potential when conceived as a sustained investment in place-based development, and when the institutional capacity of LRAs to steward that investment across bid, implementation and legacy phases is treated as a structural policy objective of the framework itself.