Recently announced was the fact that Malta’s Capital of Culture in 2018 will be held under Hungary’s Tibor Navracsic’s term. Navracsic is the new Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Citizenship for the European Union executive for 2014-2019. The news was unveiled by the new European Commission President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker.

Karel Bartak, Head of the Creative Europe Coordination Unit at the Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Culture, spoke about the European Capital of Culture programme, its purpose and legacy while attending the ‘Dialogue in the Med: exploring identity through networks’ conference, hosted in Malta by Valletta 2018 Foundation, during the first week of September.

Europe is more than a single market, noted Bartak. Culture gives Europe a human and social face to which its citizens can relate.

Thirty years and nearly 50 cities later, the project has become a testimony of the importance of culture for societies to evolve and unite people around the core European values.

Although the European City of Culture initiative has evolved over these years, the aim has kept its focus: to provide an opportunity for the citizens of Europe to meet, discover and appreciate their cultural diversity, and also to recognise their common history and values.

In 2018, Valletta will share the title with Leeuwarden in the Netherlands.

The two cities may seem to have nothing in common, but Bartak ensured participants that the rich cooperation between the two has already brought new synergies and discoveries.

As a result of similar exchanges, Europe is witnessing the creation of an organic network consist-ing of former, current and future capitals.

For Bartak, this is evidence of a legacy beyond the one- year programme.

He went on to explain that the title of European City of Culture is also a unique opportunity for the local population to get involved in a rich cultural adventure.

All successful capitals were built on the enthusiasm, inventiveness and good will of their own citizens.

Bartak argued that the recent global economic crisis has made Europe much more aware of the value of cultural and creative projects.

In fact, he noted that the cultural sector in the EU resisted the crisis better than many other industries, and is today among the fastest growing on the continent.

Statistics show that the sector provides jobs for over eight million people and contributes nearly five per cent of Europe’s GDP.

Valletta 2018 will be the most southern European Capital of Culture to date

Culture, and the growth it can bring, is needed for our cities, societies and economies, he added.

Apart from the European dimension and the involvement of the local population, a successful City of Culture year should ensure the programme’s sustainability well beyond 12 months.

The year a city is the capital of culture ought to be seen as the starting point of a long-term cultural legacy.

He cited Lille, Liverpool, Turku, Porto and Sibiu as examples of this legacy going beyond the one-year programme. A carnival followed by a decade of cultural desolation does not make sense.

Bartak affirmed that the Cities project is not a tourist-led venture; and not all results can be measured in figures.

Indeed, one of the objectives of the programme is to raise the international profile of a city through culture; and as a result most hosts experience an increase in tourism – an indicator of success for many.

However, the main focus of the scheme remains on the citizens, particularly those of the city itself.

The legacy is reflected in the way the people absorb the knowledge brought about by the programme. These are the most exciting, attractive and valuable outcomes of the project, remarked Bartak.

For the vast majority of cases, the attribution of the ECoC title was used as an opportunity to strengthen the local community and economy through culture, and to showcase the ties that unite all Europeans.

Bartak noted that while ‘culture’ is the exclusive domain of member states, no one questions initiatives like the ECoC, because they serve the development strategies of entire regions without burdening the common EU budget.

Bartak praised Malta on its use of EU structural funds for the country’s heritage preservation.

In conclusion, Bartak recommends that Malta should use Valletta 2018 as an opportunity to open itself further to the outside world.

The Mediterranean dimension of the project, following up on Marseilles in 2013, will be vital for its legacy.

He also noted that Valletta 2018 will be the most southern European Capital of Culture to date, but believes its programme will be far-reaching.

Karel Bartak also spoke about non-member states’ eligibility to participate in cultural EU-organised schemes.

He recalled that earlier this year the Creative Europe Coordination Unit launched the ECoC 2020-2033 programme.

This opens the ECoC initiative not only to cities from candidate and potential candidate countries, but also to European Neighbourhood Policy in the East of the continent and EFTA countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

This should help develop closer ties between the EU and its neighbouring countries with the aim of promoting prosperity, stability and security on the EU’s external borders.

Karsten Xuereb is Valletta 2018 Foundation executive director.