Britain is ineligible to host the European Union’s year-long cultural title, according to Brussels. The European Commission has described it as a matter of “common sense” in view of Brexit.
As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), the European Commission confirmed on November 23 in Brussels that Britain was no longer eligible to host the European Capital of Culture in 2023 as initially planned in 2014. The announcement is the latest fallout of Brexit and the UK’s scheduled departure from the European Union in March 2019.
“As one of the many concrete consequences of its decision to leave the European Union by 29 March 2019, the UK cannot host the European Capital of Culture in 2023,” a spokesperson for the commission, the EU’s executive branch, said at a press conference.
“Given that the UK will have left the EU by 29 March 2019… we believe it makes common sense to discontinue the selection process now,” the spokesperson added.
According to reports in British media, six cities had put themselves into the national running to be selected as the UK’s choice for 2023: Dundee, Nottingham, Leeds, Milton Keynes and Belfast and Derry.
