Košice awarded the Melina Mercouri Prize

Representatives of the city of Košice and the Košice – European Capital of Culture 2013 project team have already received an official report with conclusions from the second monitoring panel for the European Capitals of Culture 2013, which will be Košice and Marseille. The monitoring committee is recommending that the European Commission award the Melina Mercouri Prize to Košice and, by September 2012, implement the process of transferring a financial sum of € 1.5m to the City of Košice's account.

"It is a great success. In November last year, after we had a meeting in Košice with members of the Monitoring Committee of the European Commission, held by its Chairperson, Manfred Gaulhofer, we managed to implement the final requirements from Brussels into the project and its preparation process. In April of this year we persuaded the monitoring panel that we are ready for 2013 in compliance with the project philosophy approved in 2008," said Košice Mayor, Richard Raši.

In relation to this success, the Executor Director of the non-profit making organisation, Košice 2013, Ján Sudzina, added that "in the assessment report, the monitoring panel appreciated the hard work and significant progress we have achieved in the monitoring period from November last year. Members of the monitoring panel were positively impressed by the intensive inclusion of the local authorities in the preparation process and the team spirit of project management. In terms of a European dimension of our project, the monitoring panel praised that the bonds of Košice as a future European Capital of Culture 2013 with cultural events in Europe are very well established and that these bonds and cultural relationships are in full flow."

The European Commission has been systematically monitoring every European Capital of Culture project since 1985. If the preparation phase is successful, they award the Melina Mercouri Prize, named after the former Greek Minister of Culture and initiator of the idea of a European Capital of Culture. A condition for awarding the Melina Mercouri Prize is that the programme of every European Capital of Culture must meet criteria in two categories: "European Dimension" and "City and Citizens". In terms of the "European Dimension", the programme should facilitate cooperation between cultural subjects, artists and cities from the particular member state and other member states in any cultural field. It should emphasise the richness of cultural diversity in Europe and underline common elements of European cultures. In terms of the "City and Citizens" category, the aim of the programme is to support inclusion of citizens living in the given city and its surroundings, and improve their interest and the interest of citizens from other countries in the cultural events in the European Capital of Culture. One very important criterion is that the project must be sustainable in the long term and must form an inseparable part of the long term cultural and social development of the city.

"At this moment, it is also very important for us that we persuaded the European Commission that the Košice -ECOC 2013 project team has not only the ambition to meet the stated criteria but they continuously fulfil them," said J. Sudzina about obtaining the Melina Mercouri Prize.