Authorities in Romania’s Timişoara favor postponing the city’s European Capital of Culture program

The local authorities in Timişoara, the western Romania city set to hold the European Capital of Culture title in 2021, favor postponing the program for 2022 or 2023, mayor Nicolae Robu announced.

“In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, we agree to postponing the European Capital of Culture program to 2022 or 2023, according to the decision of the European Commission, which needs to solve the issue of the two 2020 cultural capitals that weren’t able to implement their programs because of the pandemic,” Robu wrote in the Facebook post.

The European Commission suggested the postponement of the program to 2022 or 2023 when a spot opened because of Brexit, News.ro reported. A decision is to be made by the Culture Ministry.

Mayor Robu also urged the Timişoara 2021 Association, which implements the European Capital of Culture program, to be more transparent by “posting on its website, on its initiative, but also upon request, all the public interest information.”

The association needs to be open to welcoming new members and also has to solve the issue of the payments owed to its employees and collaborators, the mayor said.

At the same time, the prerogatives and responsibilities of the Directive Council, including the president, and the executive director need to be clearly separated, Robu said.

(Photo: Iulian Dragomir | Dreamstime.com)