Bidboek Maastricht culturele hoofdstad 2018

Het commentaar:

Regarding the funding of the event, the proposed operating budget is 80 million Euros of which 65% (52 mio €) would go to the programme itself, 20% (16 mio €) to promotion and marketing, and 15% (12 mio €) to wages, overhead and administration. 70 million Euros (i.e. 87,5% of the budget) - with an assumption of 8,5 million Euros from the Dutch government - would come from the public purse, 10 million Euros from the private sector. 60 million Euros of the public funding would be divided equally between the city of Maastricht, the province of Limburg and the other cities, provinces and regions of the Euregion.
Although the European Dimension is at the core of the Maastricht concept, the Panel felt it needed a broader interpretation than the one provided in the bid book. The Panel would have liked to see more evidence of the capacity of Maastricht 2018 to actually deliver such results as, e.g., to efficiently fight youth unemployment by the means laid out in the proposal. It also feels that the Maastricht bid is focusing too much on the immediate cross-border aspect as compared to the wider concept of the European Dimension as laid out in the Decision. The Panel felt that references to the “power of Dutch culture” did not sit easily with the cross-border concept and indicated that more thought needs to go into the regional versus city analysis.
The Panel also expressed some concerns regarding the complexity of the governance structure which involves public authorities from 13 public partners coming from 3 different countries and speaking 3 different languages. After a thorough discussion of the bid documents, the presentations and the subsequent question and answer sessions, the Panel, by a large majority, decided to recommend to put forward the cities of Eindhoven, Leeuwarden and Maastricht to the final selection stage for the Dutch European Capital of Culture 2018.Additionally, the Panel urges Maastricht to be more precise in describing how Maastricht and the Euregion have really divided roles and tasks within the organization and will solve any eventual problems between the parties.