"World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it."
For an united Europe, the "Declaration of 9 May 1950" was made by Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950 before the French Assembly.Above is an extract from the declaration.
Inauguration and Subsequent Development
"A mutual understanding of our cultures, our identities, is essential to true European integration." This assertion by Melina Mercouri, then Greek Minister of Culture, launched the system of the European Capital of Culture in 1985.
Since then, the Council of Ministers of Culture of member countries of the EU (at that time the EC) have selected one city within an EU member country as the European Capital of Culture, which over the course of one year holds a variety of artistic events to deepen mutual understanding.
This system incorporates the thinking of the Ministers of Culture that "It being difficult to realize a single Europe through political and economic treaties and agreements alone, culture plays and important role in realizing integration." Integration of the European market was completed in 1993, and since that year the European Capital of Culture has sought the broad participation of countries throughout the world rather than cultural exchange within the EU region alone and in June of that year the 1st EC-Japan Fest cultural exchange program was held in Antwerp. Cultural cooperation with Japan has continued since then with each year's European Capital of Culture. The EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee has served as the Japan-side liaison since then, and each European Capital of Culture each year since has seen joint projects with Japan in culture and the arts.
Please click colored area, you can see more details.
| Year | City / Country |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Athens (Greece) |
| 1986 | Florence (Italy) |
| 1987 | Amsterdam (The Netherlands) |
| 1988 | Berlin (German) |
| 1989 | Paris (France) |
| 1990 | Glasgow (United Kingdom) |
| 1991 | Dublin (Ireland) |
| 1992 | Madrid (Spain) |
| 1993 | Antwerp (Belgium) (The 1st EC-Japan Fest) |
| 1994 | Lisbon (Portugal) (The 2nd EU-Japan Fest) |
| 1995 | Luxembourg (Luxembourg) (The 3rd EU-Japan Fest) |
| 1996 | Copenhagen (Denmark) (The 4th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 1997 | Thessaloniki (Greece) (The 5th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 1998 | Stockholm (Sweden) (The 6th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 1999 | Weimar (German) (The 7th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2000 | Brussels (Belgium) (The 8th EU-Japan Fest) |
| Avignon (France) (The 8th EU-Japan Fest) | |
| Santiago de Compostela (Spain) (The 8th EU-Japan Fest) | |
| Prague(Czech) , Bologna(Italy) , Helsinki(Finland) , Bergen(Norway) , Reykjavik(Iceland) , Cracow(Poland) | |
| 2001 | Rotterdam (The Netherlands) (The 9th EU-Japan Fest) |
| Porto (Portugal) (The 9th EU-Japan Fest) | |
| 2002 | Salamanca (Spain) (The 10th EU-Japan Fest) |
| Brugge (Belgium) (The 10th EU-Japan Fest) | |
| 2003 | Graz (Austria) (The 11th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2004 | Lille (France) (The 12th EU-Japan Fest) |
| Genova (Italy) (The 12th EU-Japan Fest) | |
| 2005 | Cork (Ireland) (The 13th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2006 | Patras (Greece) (The 14th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2007 | Luxembourg (Luxembourg) / Sibiu (Romania) (The 15th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2008 | Liverpool (United Kingdom) / Stavanger (Norway) (The 16th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2009 | Linz (Austria) / Vilnius (Lithuania) (The 17th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2010 | Pécs(Hungary) / Istanbul (Turkey) / Ruhr (Germany) (The 18th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2011 | Turku (Finland) / Tallinn (Estonia) (The 19th EU-Japan Fest) |
| 2012 | Guimarães (Portugal) / Maribor (Slovenia) (The 20th EU-Japan Fest[to be confirmed]) |
| 2013 | Marseille（France） / Košice（Slovakia） (The 21st EU-Japan Fest[to be confirmed]) |
| 2014 | Umea（Sweden） /Riga（Latvia） (The 22nd EU-Japan Fest[to be confirmed]) |
| 2015 | Mons（Belgium） / Plze?（Czech Republic） (The 23rd EU-Japan Fest[to be confirmed]) |
| 2016 | San Sebastian（Spain）／Wroclaw （Poland） (The 24th EU-Japan Fest[to be confirmed]) |
| 2017 | Denmark / Cyprus |
| 2018 | Netherlands / Malta |
| 2019 | Italy / Bulgaria |
| 2020 | Romania / Serbia / Ireland |
* After year 2009, European Parliament will designate the host country of the European Capital of Culture, then the city is decided by the country.
