Palma has failed to pass the final cut in the process to become European Capital of Culture in 2031. The city’s bid has been left out of the list of four finalists selected by the evaluation committee, which has ultimately chosen Cáceres, Granada, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Oviedo to continue in the process.
The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez Llabrés, positively assessed the work carried out during the two years of preparation for the bid and argued that the project has helped strengthen the city’s cultural positioning.
“With or without the nomination, Palma is already, in fact, a major cultural capital in the Mediterranean, in Europe and around the world,” the mayor said after the committee’s decision was announced.
The four finalist cities
The decision was announced during an information briefing held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture. The evaluation committee, made up of eight European experts and two representatives appointed by the ministry, announced that the cities advancing to the final stage are Cáceres, Granada, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Oviedo.
The city that will ultimately represent Spain as European Capital of Culture in 2031 will be decided next December. That year the title will be shared with a city in Malta.
The mayor of Palma congratulated the four finalist bids and wished them “the best of luck” in the final phase of the process.
Continuation of cultural projects
Despite not advancing to this stage, the City Council has announced that it will continue the cultural projects launched during the bidding process, with the aim of further strengthening Palma’s role as a cultural capital of the Mediterranean.
According to Martínez Llabrés, the work carried out by the municipal Department of Culture and the two independent professional panels that accompanied the bid “has not been in vain”, but has helped consolidate a cultural strategy that will continue to develop in the coming years.
The mayor also emphasised that the process has been characterised by a cross-cutting and participatory approach, with proposals open to the cultural sector and the wider public.
The ‘Mediterráneo in Motion’ project
In the coming days, the City Council will present in detail the project ‘Mediterráneo in Motion’, with which Palma sought to obtain the European cultural capital title.
The proposal was presented this week at the Ministry of Culture by Professor Antoni Riera, coordinator of the project and director of the Fundació Impulsa Balears.
The delegation representing Palma also included members of the independent professional panels and officials from the municipal Department of Culture, led by the first deputy mayor, Javier Bonet.
According to the mayor, the bid “has been a collective aspiration” involving numerous cultural and civic sectors. The ideas that emerged during this process, he said, will help further strengthen Palma’s cultural role at a European level.
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