{"id":1742,"date":"2026-03-13T13:30:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/?p=1742"},"modified":"2026-03-13T13:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T13:30:43","slug":"european-capital-of-culture-2031-spanish-pre-selection-concluded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/european-capital-of-culture-2031-spanish-pre-selection-concluded\/","title":{"rendered":"European Capital of Culture 2031: Spanish Pre-selection Concluded"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madrid, 13 March 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The Spanish pre-selection phase for the\u00a0European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2031<\/strong>\u00a0has concluded. Following five days of work, the European expert panel \u2014 which includes\u00a0Csaba Borboly, Vice-President of Harghita County Council and representative of the European Committee of the Regions<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 selected four cities for the final round from among nine candidate cities.<\/p>\n

Why is this important for us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Membership in the ECoC expert panel is not a ceremonial role. It involves five days of intensive work, from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., during which the panel listens to presentations from each candidate city, asks questions, and evaluates the bids based on six European criteria: long-term strategy, cultural and artistic content, European dimension, social participation, governance, and feasibility. Participation in the panel is fully financed by the European Commission.<\/p>\n

What can we bring home from this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Future-oriented planning.<\/strong>
\nApplicant cities plan years ahead. They do not organize a one-off event but build cultural strategies that shape the local economy, education, infrastructure, and community life alike. This is not a dream \u2014 it is a proven practice across Europe.<\/p>\n

Good solutions.<\/strong>
\nAs members of the panel, we evaluate applications from several countries every year. This provides direct insight into how other European regions address similar challenges: depopulation, youth migration, economic peripherality, and the lack of cultural infrastructure. These are precisely the issues we also face.<\/p>\n

The culture of wellbeing.<\/strong>
\nECoC is not merely a cultural festival. The strongest bids treat culture as a tool for social wellbeing \u2014 from community building and health awareness to dialogue between generations. Culture is not decoration; it is part of everyday quality of life.<\/p>\n

European networks.<\/strong>
\nPanel work creates direct connections with experts, decision-makers, and cultural organizations from other regions. These relationships are not theoretical \u2014 they lead to concrete knowledge exchange, experience sharing, and cooperation opportunities.<\/p>\n

Why should we make use of this opportunity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many European regions face challenges similar to those of\u00a0Sz\u00e9kelyf\u00f6ld (Szeklerland)<\/strong>. The difference lies not in the problems themselves, but in how communities respond to them. Regions that build from the bottom up \u2014 involving universities, civil society organizations, young people, and entrepreneurs \u2014 can develop strategies over time that lead to real change.<\/p>\n

This does not come from Brussels. It is\u00a0local work enriched with European knowledge<\/strong>. And the opportunity is there \u2014 we need to make use of it.<\/p>\n

About the mandate<\/strong><\/p>\n

Csaba Borboly was appointed to the\u00a0ECoC expert panel in 2025 by the European Committee of the Regions<\/strong>\u00a0for the period\u00a02025\u20132027<\/strong>. The mandate covers the selection and monitoring processes of the\u00a02020\u20132033 ECoC cycle<\/strong>. Panel membership is the only moment when experts are allowed to speak publicly about the work \u2014 at the time of the official announcement of results.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0European Commission<\/strong>\u00a0will publish the official communication on the detailed results of the Spanish pre-selection and the cities that advanced to the next round.<\/p>\n

Madrid, 13 March 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madrid, 13 March 2026 The Spanish pre-selection phase for the\u00a0European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2031\u00a0has concluded. Following five days of work, the European expert panel \u2014 which includes\u00a0Csaba Borboly, Vice-President of Harghita County Council and representative of the European Committee of the Regions\u00a0\u2014 selected four cities for the final round from among nine candidate cities. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1744,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1742\/revisions\/1744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}