The Plenary of the City Council of Zaragoza agreed unanimously on 24 February 2006 to support the candidacy of Zaragoza to become European Capital of Culture in 2016.
The Foundation, formed and registered in the Foundations´Register, has its own legal status and legal capacity to act and make all the necessary for reaching its goals. Fundación 2016 is also subject to what is established in the Spanish Law, including the development of commercial or industrial activities.
As a consequence and without prejudice to the relevant authorizations of the Protectorate, by way of information and not limitation, Fundación 2016 can acquire, preserve, and dispose as well as tax, any kind of personal property, assets, values and rights, carry out any kind of acts and contracts, compromise and resort to the Government or the Law, exercising any kind of actions and exceptions before a Court, Judge, or public or private organizations.
The Board of the Fundación Zaragoza 2016 is formed by:
City Council of Zaragoza
Diputación General de Aragón (Regional Government)
Diputación Provincial de Zaragoza (Provincial Government)
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Zaragoza
University of Zaragoza
The "European City of Culture" has its origin in the Council of Ministers of 13 June 1985, and, with the passing of time, it has become one of the most popular actions of the European Union. Due to the high number of participants and its cultural and socio-economic impact, an increasing number of cities present every year their candidacy for the title of "European Capital of culture".
The election is ruled by the Resolution No 1622/2006EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 October 2006, which establishes a community action in favour of the event "European Capital of Culture" for the years 2007 to 2019 [Official Gazette L 304 of 3.11.2006].
In the above mentioned Resolution, a bigger competence at the national level among the participating cities in the selection process is advocated, as well as the modification of the composition and functions of the Selection Committee. A tracking stage between the appointment moment and the start of the event is also included. It is also stressed the importance of the European dimension of the programmes proposed by the candidate cities.
Applications must include a cultural programme with European dimension based on the goals foreseen in the article 151 of the CE Treaty on cultural cooperation. The programme must answer to several criteria divided in two categories:
- · «European dimension», consisting of a strengthening of the cooperation between cultural agents at every level. The programs must stress also the wealth of the European cultural diversity and the common aspects of European cultures.
- · "The city and the citizens", aiming at arousing the interest of the citizens and facilitating the cultural development of the city in the long run. In principle, the programme will last one year. The Commission could reward the quality of the candidate programme, awarding a prize funded by the programme "Culture".
The selection process for the "European Capital of Culture" is developed -according to the new rules- in four stages:
- Call for applications: the candidate States will publish an official announcement for filing applications, at least six years before the start of the event. From that date, cities will have ten months to present their candidacies. The above mentioned official announcement by the Ministry of Culture has not taken place yet.
- Preselection: The Selection Committee in charge of studying the proposals of the cities and selecting a limited list of cities will be called at least five years before the start of the event. The Committee will be composed of thirteen experts: seven appointed for three years by the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Committee of the Regions; the other six chosen by every member State concerned in order to guarantee a balance between local, national and European interests.
- Final selection: the Committee will be called one more time nine months after the first selection meeting, in order to examine the programmes of the shortlisted candidates. Those programmes must be more detailed and the Committee will recommend the candidacy of a city to become European City of Culture. In this stage, the Selection Committee will present a report to the member State and the Commission, including advices for the appointed city, just in case that city is the winner.
- Appointment. Four years before the start of the event, the member States of the candidate cities after following the guidelines of the Selection Committee, will present to the European institutions the candidacy of only one city. The Council, taking into account the reports of the European Parliament and the Selection Committee, will officially appoint two cities as European Capitals of Culture.
