On Wednesday 20 September, the European capitals expert panel recommended the city of Skopje (North Macedonia) for the title of European Capital of Culture 2028 “beyond the EU”. This category is reserved for EFTA/EEA countries or EU candidate countries. On the short list was only one other city in the EFTA/EEA category, Budva in Montenegro. But the panel between the two cities chose Skopje.In the past few days, the report of the evaluation panel has been published online where you can read the reasons that led to this decision.

The idea for Skopje to run for the ECoC title at the completion open for cities from an EFTA/EEA country, a candidate country or a potential candidate to EU membership, was initiated in 2014.