Infos from :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Capital_of_Culture
In
1999, the European City of Culture was renamed the European Capital of
Culture, and it is now financed through the Culture 2000 programme.
Cork City, in Ireland, was the first city in Europe to hold the
prestigious Capital of Culture title. The European Parliament and
Council Decision of May 25, 1999 integrates this event into the
Community framework and introduces a new selection procedure for the
Capitals for the 2005–2019 period. This was done to avoid overly
fierce competition to win the accolade; each EU member nation will be
given the opportunity to "host" the capital in turn. Starting in 2005,
two cities will now share this status each year.
In 2004, the
European Commission asked Robert Palmer, director of Palmer-Rae
Associates, to evaluate the programme of European Capitals of Culture
1994-2004, following an earlier evaluation study examining European
Capitals of Culture 1985-1993. The latest study comprehensively deals
with cultural, economic, visitor, social and European perspectives of
the European Capital of Culture action. It comprises two volumes: one
of summary findings, analyses and conclusions; a second of individual
case studies. Both volumes can be freely downloaded.