ZAGREB, 12 April 2022 - Rijeka is a good example of how the European Capitals of Culture project contributes to the development of cities in the European Union, Austrian member of the European Parliament Hannes Heide said during a visit to the northern Croatian Adriatic city on Tuesday.

Heide is the former mayor of Bad Ischl, which will assume the title of European Capital of Culture in 2024. He met with Rijeka mayor Marko Filipović to discuss the European Capitals of Culture project.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Heide said that they had exchanged experience with the organisation of such a project. A positive contribution from the European Capital of Culture project can be felt in Rijeka, he noted.

As mayor of Bad Ischl from 2007 to 2020, Heide had promoted the development of the city and the Salzkammergut region through culture. "We applied for the European Capital of Culture title, but we did not believe that such a small city of 40,000 and a region with a population of 100,000 could become a European Capital of Culture," he said.

Filipović said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic the European Capital of Culture project remained the biggest culture project in Croatia and that it had brought many visitors to Rijeka. Performing arts were hit hardest by the crisis, but two-thirds of the planned programmes were implemented, he noted.