Cities, like people, need new challenges to grow and advance. Challenges motivate us. The challenge of being designated as European Capital of Culture is a unique opportunity. Certain cities have made so much of the event that they have been designated twice, such as Luxemburg. The first answer to the question “why Pamplona” is straightforward: “because it is a city”, construing “city” as an open container for citizenship, a citizenship with a European mind. We want to watch and to be watched, we want to look and to be looked at, we want to know and to be known and ultimately, we want to love and to be loved. Cities, like people, need to love and to be loved.

However, being a cultural capital is not a prize for what you already have - there are further initiatives for this purpose, such as the World Heritage City. Therefore, being a cultural capital is a project, and this makes willingness to become a cultural capital an essential factor. Our work together will allow us to show the world that we want to become an European capital of culture.

In order to draw up the best of projects, we need to know what we have, what we do, what we lack, what we need, and that is exactly were we stand right now.

Pamplona is all this and so much more. That is a reason in itself to become a European Capital of Culture.