Today, in Buchurest, the candidacy of Novi Sad has been favorably evaluated by an independent panel of experts, appointed by the European Commission, and our city has qualified for the final stage of selection, that is, got into the shortlist along with Herceg Novi, Montenegro. As it is stated from the European Commission, participation itself in the final selection has a great social, economic and cultural influece on the development of the city, and the chosen cities are seriously dedicated to work on sustainable cultural progress and developement of strategy for cultural improvemenet.

To remind, in 2021, beside a city from a country candidate and a potential candidate , there will be two other cities elected for  European Capital of Culture,  from Romania and Greece. We have been pleasantly surprised by news that Timisoara, partner city of Novi Sad, has also been elected in the final stage of selection of the Romanian national competition.

Organizing Committee of Novi Sad 2021, the Programme Council and the members of the expert teams have been receaved numerous congratulations from the country and abroad. Ambassador Michael Davenport, Head of the European Union Delaegation to the Republic Serbia, sent congratulations via tweeter and wished good luck in further preparation for the final stage of selection.

In the upcoming period we expect comments and evaluations of application form by the Panel of Experts. It is expected that the final decision on the selection of the European Capital of Culture will be announced  in Brussels during October 2016.