In this new period 2020-2033, the action replaces and complements the one held under the same heading during the years 2007-2019. For the new stage, the candidacy of countries that are not currently members of the EU has been foreseen.
The cities of the Member States may exercise the right to be designated European Capitals of Culture for one year, in the following order:
2007. Luxembourg and Romania (Sibiu).
2008. United Kingdom (Liverpool) and Norway (Stavanger).
2009. Austria (Linz) and Lithuania (Vilnius).
2010. Germany (Essen), Hungary (Pécs), and Turkey (Istanbul).
2011. Finland (Turku) and Estonia (Tallinn).
2012. Portugal (Guimaraes) and Slovenia (Maribor).
2013. France (Marseille) and Slovakia (Kosice).
2014. Sweden (Umeå) and Latvia (Riga).
2015. Belgium (Mons) and Czech Republic (Pilsen).
2016. Spain (Donostia-San Sebastián) and Poland (Wrocław).
2017. Denmark (Aarhus) and Cyprus (Paphos).
2018. The Netherlands (Leeuwarden) and Malta (Valletta).
2019. Italy (Matera) and Bulgaria (Plodviv).
2020. Croatia (Rijeka) and Ireland (Galway). Extended to 2021 due to COVID19.
2022. Lithuania (Kaunas), Luxembourg (Esch) Serbia (Novi Sad).
2023. Romania (Timisoara), Greece (Elefsina) and Hungary (Veszprém).
2024. Austria (Bad Ischl), Estonia (Bodø) and Norway (Tartu).
2025. Slovenia (Nova Gorica) and Germany (Chemnitz).
2026. Slovakia (Trenčín) and Finland (Oulu).
2027. Latvia, Portugal (Évora) and Candidate or potential candidate country.
2028. Czech Republic and France.
2029. Poland and Sweden.
2030. Cyprus, Belgium and Candidate or potential candidate country.
2031. Malta and Spain.
2032. Bulgaria and Denmark.
2033. Netherlands, Italy and Candidate or potential candidate country.
The designation will apply to one city from each of the Member States that appear on the list. The chronological order appearing in this list may be modified by mutual agreement between the Member States concerned.
Any application must include a cultural program with a European dimension, based mainly on cultural cooperation. The cultural program of the event will be created specifically for the year of the European Capital of Culture and will highlight the European added value of compliance. The program will last one year. A link will be established between the programs of the cities designated for the same year.