Plovdiv has been awarded with the prestigious prize “Melina Mercouri”

А month after the meeting in Brussels with representatives of Plovdiv 2019, the international panel at the European Commission published its official report. In the report, the experts particularly congratulate the team for professional and dedicated work and all the efforts made in the process of preparing the European Capital of Culture and the panel recommends the Commission to award the Melina Mercouri prize to Plovdiv 2019.

"The decision for the Melina Mercouri prize is another recognition for Plovdiv and a high-ranking by international jury for the efforts we make TOGETHER to make our city a successful European Capital of Culture in 2019," says Mayor Eng. Ivan Totev.

The document, already published on the European Commission website, contains the main topics covered during the presentation and discussion, as well as recommendations for the final stage of the project. The Jury pays special attention to the large amount of work the team has been involved in preparing and implementing already 8 open calls with over 1,100 submitted projects and conducting over 300 contracts with partners. The communication strategy of the Foundation and the good in-depth collaboration with the partner Italian city of Matera were positively evaluated. The international activity and team activity gave confidence to the jury for a good preparation over the past year.

Among the recommendations, practical guidelines for team building, organization of the opening event, as well as for communication with partners in the implementation of their projects are presented. The jury pays particular attention to the Roma community program and the potential interaction with Matera for its development. The recommendations for strategic planning of the initiative's heritage, both in the form of infrastructure and in terms of accumulated capacity and cultural after project completion.

In its conclusion to the report, the jury takes into account the successful implementation of the main criteria of the initiative - a strong European dimension and participation of citizens in Plovdiv, which is the basis for awarding the prestigious prize.

Following the Commission's confirmatory decision, the sum of one and a half million euros will be transferred to the Foundation's account, which is planned to be used as a legacy of the European Capital of Culture and strong cultural content in Plovdiv, and after 2019.

The commission for the second official monitoring of Plovdiv Participants: Sylvia Amann - Linz 2009 (Chair), Cristina Farinha - Guimarães 2012 (reporter at the meeting), (appointed by the European Parliament), Jiří Suchánek - Pilsen 2015 and Tamas Fejerdy - Pécs 2010 (appointed by the Council to the European Union), Ulrich Fuchs - Linz 2009, Marseille - Provence 2013 and Suzana Žilić Fišer - Maribor 2012 (appointed by the European Commission), Elisabeth Vitouch (appointed by the Committee of the Regions).

The full text of the report can be found on the European Commission's website - https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/sites/creative-europe/files/plovdiv_2nd_monitoring_report_finalen.pdf