The eastern Hungarian city of Debrecen has announced a bid to become Europe’s Capital of Culture in 2023, and the government wants to highlight the country’s central European values in the course of lobbying for the title, a government official has said. A ministry of human resources will participate in conducting the bid together with a European Commission committee of experts, which will eventually decide on the outcome, state secretary for cultural affairs Péter Hoppál said in a statement on Wednesday. Earlier, when the city of Pécs won its bid for the title, the decision had been solely in the hands of the Hungarian authorities, he noted.
A good bid will have to incorporate European Union expectations and therefore highlight the cultural diversity of the continent, he said. A successful bid will also present the special cultural identity of the city, and that spanning the region, with a view to boosting local tourism, he added.
