The Committee on Culture and Education adopted the report by Željana ZOVKO (EPP, HR) on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision No 445/2014/EU establishing a Union action for the European Capitals of Culture for the years 2020 to 2033.
The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should support the Commission's proposal to extend the European Capitals of Culture 2020 to 2021.
Members wished to point out that the two European Capitals of Culture 2020 have had to postpone or cancel several events without any clarity when the situation will come back to normality, while still incurring costs for those events. They stressed that the cities have been prevented from implementing their year as a European Capital of Culture and capitalising on the huge human and financial investment made.