Capital of Culture meeting canceled

VILNIUS - The meeting of representatives of cities that were EuropeanCapitals of Culture in past years has been canceled. The meeting was scheduledto take place in Vilnius later in March, organizers of the ECC program in the Austrian city Linz said.

Linz is the European Capital of Culture together with Lithuania's Vilnius in2009.

According to the press release, the informal meeting was called off due tothe Lithuanian administration's decision to remove the head of Vilnius's EuropeanCapital of Culture 2009, Elona Bajoriniene.

"On behalf of European Capitals of Culture, we regret the decision ofthe Lithuanian administration to cut the VECC budget by 40 percent and removeElona Bajoriniene from the position of VECC director," said the pressrelease.

Authors of the press release said they could understand the enormity of thesituation caused by the global financial crisis, at the same time expressingcertitude that the Lithuanian government's moves would affect the image ofVilnius and Lithuania in Europe, as well as the concept of ECC.

Among signatories of the press release are representatives of former andfuture ECC.

Bajoriniene was discharged from the ECC post at a meeting of ECC partners -the Culture Ministry and the Vilnius municipality - on Feb. 21.

VECC budget for 2009 was slashed from 40 million litas (EUR 11.6 mln) to 25million litas.

A letter of regret was also received from the European Commission in earlyJanuary.

Vilnius is the first capital in Eastern Europe and the Baltic states toreceive the prestigious status of the European Capital of Culture.