I can believe that the experts from Brussels were particularly attracted by certain specialties of the Maribor programme that took a step away from the somewhat stereotypical investment schemes into new cultural projects and performances of the best world-famous cultural performers and groups characteristic in recent years, when the financial sources for such programmes were also much more abundant. It becomes more and more clear that the specialty of the Maribor programme lies in the ambition that Maribor and participating cities would like to gain permanent elements from the project that will involve certain changes to their lives in cultural and other areas.  In this sense, the Ključi mesta and Urbane brazde programmes, particularly, must be mentioned, as they should contribute to changes in the most fundamental living patterns of the citizens of the cities involved. 

That is why the organisers first carried out a thorough social and economic analysis of the Eastern Slovenia “cohesion region”, which includes Maribor and all participating cities. Slovenia consists of two cohesion regions: Eastern and Western Slovenia, which were introduced on the basis of the Promotion of Balanced Regional Development Act.  According to statistical data, the GDP of the Eastern cohesion region is only about 43%; the European rules thus classify this region among undeveloped regions. It encompasses about 60% of the Slovenian territory and includes about 1,100,000 people, which is 54% of the population of the Republic of Slovenia. Culture and activities that are resulting from and that are associated with culture could surely be one of the key factors of overcoming the differences between the developed West and undeveloped East, since according to Europe’s assessment, cultural services, creative industries and cultural tourism are the fastest-growing industries with the highest employment rate and are therefore the future of European service-oriented development.

Velenje will focus on its industrial heritage; Ptuj is the centre of rich antique findings and ethnological specialties (for example kurenti); Novo mesto is the city of situlas; Murska Sobota will take over the culture of countryside, while Slovenj Gradec is the global city of peace.

By means of this project, Maribor, as an old industrial city, which has become much more a trade and university city over the last few decades, wishes to fill in a considerable deficiency of public, and particularly cultural space, and thus increase the participation of its inhabitants in overall social life.   In this sense, cultural objects and public gatherings will be concentrated on the banks of the Drava and in the old city centre, while the said programmes, Urbane brazde and Ključi mesta, will strive towards disseminating cultural and social matters among the largest possible number of people, on city streets and markets. Therefore, after the flags of the European capital are lowered at the 2013 New Year, the permanent achievement of the city should be a way of life that can only be introduced by culture.