The stages

February 2008: 1st Board of Directors of the MONS 2015 Foundation.

10 September 2008 : appearance in the Moniteur belge of the call for bids. The call for bids is for towns that might be interested in the title. These towns had to submit their bids by 1 March 2009,  i.e. present an overall draft of the programme for the year in question.

The jury met on 2 June 2009 to examine the bids. This jury – known as the selection jury – consists of thirteen people: six experts appointed by the country involved, and seven appointed by the European Institutions.

The selection drew up a list of the towns initially suitable to bear the title, while making recommendations as to the progress and developments to be made to their projects.  

The preselected towns had then several months to develop and go further into their programmes. This detailed dossier was presented at a second meeting of the selection jury. This meeting took place on 9 February 2010. The Selection jury of the European Capital of Culture has unanimously recommended Mons to become one of the two cities to share this title in 2015. This decision was a crucial step, even if the designation itself, which will be made by the Council of Ministers, will only take place in November 2010.

Summary time line of the selection stages