Evaluation commissioned by the EU
The Commission then produces a final report on the year, drawing on the independent evaluation and any evaluations carried out or commission by the cities. The Commission’s report is presented to the European Parliament, the Council and the Committee of the Regions.
These reports:
- help establish and spread good practice
- assess the impact of the initiative, and help inform EU cultural policies.
Focus of the EU evaluation
The evaluation assesses the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the past year's Capital of Culture against the objectives for the year. It focuses primarily on the European dimension of the cultural programme, public involvement and the city’s own objectives.
It studies the impact of being Capital of Culture on cultural, social and urban development. Operational features, such as city governance, financing and communication strategy are also taken into account.
Sources
The Commission evaluates each European Capital of Culture individually, drawing on a number of sources, at EU level and city level:
Key sources consulted for evaluation generally include:
- policy and academic literature from European level
- the original applications submitted by the Capitals
- studies and reports commissioned by the Capitals
- events, programmes, promotional materials and websites used during the year
- quantitative data supplied by the Capitals on activities, outputs and results
- interviews with the Capital's managing teams
- a telephone survey of key stakeholders in each Capital
- visits to each city.
Who carries out the evaluation?
An external contractor carries out the EU evaluation on behalf of the Commission. Annual contracts are awarded to companies on the basis of their ability to perform the evaluation effectively and efficiently.
The contractor chosen to carry out the evaluations for 2007, 2008 and 2009 is ECOTEC Research and Consulting (Contract signed on 27 May 2009).
The evaluation (ECOTEC) of the 2009 Capitals is available. 
Commission report about the 2009 European Capitals of Culture (Linz and Vilnius)
Previous evaluations
Luxembourg & Sibiu (2007) and Liverpool & Stavanger (2008)
External evaluation report and executive summary
Annexes
Commission report – English
Commission report – all EU official languages
Study on the European Cities and Capitals of Culture and the European Cultural Months (1995-2004)
Palmer report
