The European dimension in European Community legislation

Following Decision No 1622/2006/EC of the European Parliament and Council, dated 24th October 2006, which established European Community action for the celebration of the “European Capital of Culture” for the years 2007 to 2019 (Official Journal L 304, 3.11.2006), for Cordoba to achieve the position of Cultural Capital in the year 2016 depends to a vital degree on the European dimension of the city and its present and future viability.

While the notion of a European dimension is not a totally unambiguous or clearly definable concept, the special characteristics of Cordoba as a historical, social and cultural unit allow us to approach the definition along certain lines and articulate its multi-national, integral and eclectic nature.

The relevant lines of the report resume fairly the signs of identity of the city of Cordoba over its two millennia of history - both in its social as well as its physical and architectural dimensions –with the characteristic features of the European spirit and culture in its historical legacy, in its current trajectory and in its future plans. These lines are not defined only as characteristic features, but more importantly as dynamic guidelines which define and articulate the role of Cordoba from 2016 onwards as a cultural reference point both on a strictly local level as well as on a national and international level.

The balance between the undeniable qualities of the city’s historical legacy and its viable potential in generating culture for citizens and institutions of 21st century Europe inevitably calls for a marriage between the common cultural values of the past, present, and, above all, the future.

«The unity of Europe is not a fantasy, it is Europe which is the reality and the fantasy is precisely the other idea: the belief that France, Germany, Italy and Spain are consistent and independent realities»
(Ortega y Gasset, Preface for the French, 1937)