France, Czech Republic and Macedonia are the countries that in 2028 will indicate the European capital of culture. Here are the first candidate cities: Czech Republic: Brno, Liberec, Broumov, Budejovice. France:  Bastia, Montpellier, Reims, Rouen, Roubaix, Bourges, Clermont-Ferrand, Banlieue, Saint Denis, Nice, Lens. Macedonia: Skopje. EcocNews begins a new journey among the cities that are applying for the European capital of culture for 2028. Today we discover the city of Broumov, in the Czech Republic.

Before the indication, by the panel of the pre-selection for the European Capital of Culture 2027 of Portugal, we had interviewed the teams of some of the competing cities. One of these is Coimbra which failed to enter the short list. However, EcocNews wants to make known the precious work also of the excluded cities with the hope that they can continue to realize their projects and their dreams.

The president of european panel for the pre-selection of ECoC applicants in Portugal, Beatriz Garcia, announced the names of the cities that will continue the race to become the European capital of culture in 2027 for Portugal in a press conference this afternoon. Four cities have entered the short list: Aveiro, Braga, Évora, Ponta Delgada

Migrations and the positive consequences of people moving, the richness of diversity and its impact on art, are the themes of the new programme arch ‘Migrations’, which started on 1st february and with which Novi Sad, as the European Capital of Culture, continues with the cultural events in 2022. In the next 45 days, Serbian Athens will present the migrational identity of Novi Sad, Serbia, and Europe through more than 300 events. Around 130 artists will present themselves through various art genres, 90 of which are from different European countries.

Ecocnews continues its journey among the 12 Portuguese cities that are candidates for European capital of culture for 2027. We asked all the application teams three same questions. After Leiria, Ponta Delgada, Evora, and Braga today EcocNews makes a stop in Aveiro.

Ecocnews continues its journey among the 12 Portuguese cities that are candidates for European capital of culture for 2027. We asked all the application teams three same questions. After Leiria, Ponta Delgada and Evora, today EcocNews makes a stop in Braga.

The untimely death of the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, caused deep pain throughout Europe and also in the EcocNews Team who had met him personally on 20 December 2019 at the closing of the Matera 2019 cultural program. In a few hours he made us understand that a smile coincides with authority and that, as he told us, "beauty comes from freedom".

David Sassoli was a friend of culture and the European capitals of culture. During the press conference in Matera he said: "We will not vote that budget of the European Commission, we as the unanimity of the European Parliament, that budget that cuts funds for culture by 20 percent". EcocNews wants to remember the great personality of David Sassoli by publishing his speech, in English, for the Matera 2019 monitoring report "Matera is a producer of culture", his extraordinary greeting at the end of the cultural program, in italian, and some videos of that memorable day.

Hi, David.

Ecocnews continues its journey among the 12 Portuguese cities that are candidates for European capital of culture for 2027. Since its foundation, Évora has been in constant transformation. Despite its geographical position in the interior of the country it has been a city of convergence where people meet to think about the world. It was the meeting place of civilisations and kings, then a centre of expansionist knowledge, and then one of the main cities of the Portuguese Renaissance.

For the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, the European Capitals of Culture met live outside Europe to reflect together on the path of rebirth of cities and to share globally their responses to highly topical challenges such as the New European Bauhaus or the role that culture can play in connecting the rural and the urban.

Leiria was, if not the first, one of the first Portuguese cities to state - long ago on 22nd may of 2015 - the intention to present an application to European Capital of Culture 2027. It was also one of the first to, right after the first pandemic wave, reiterate this intention.