What do the finalists have that Palma 2031 doesn't?

PalmAmong the Spanish cities still vying to be European Capital of Culture 2031 – Cáceres, Las Palmas, Oviedo and Granada – is the project promoted by the Palma City Council, under the slogan Mediterranean in motionAlthough Palma 2031 has been eliminated, there are numerous differences. The Councilor for Culture of Corte, Javier Bonet, pointed to two of them at the press conference he gave on March 18, five days after learning that Palma 2031 would not advance to the next phase. The first difference concerned experience and time. "All four had applied for the title on previous occasions," explained the deputy mayor, "and that means they have been working for 10 to 15 years." The other major difference, according to Bonet, is the budget allocated to the competition so far.

According to the councilor, Palma City Council invested €82,800 in the bid between 2025 and 2026, while the finalists allocated, on average, ten times more: Cáceres, €750,000 in the same period; Granada, €650,000 in 2025; Oviedo, €970,000; and Las Palmas, €1.9 million between 2025 and 2026. "If I had told you now that we didn't make it that we invested one million euros, tomorrow's headline would be that we threw it away," Bonet retorted during the press conference. He pointed to "the tendency to misinterpret" on the part of various sectors—I'm referring to political groups, the press, and other figures—as one of the reasons for this "restrained investment." However, with the available information on the finalist cities, other notable differences can be observed between the selected projects and the failed Palma 2031 proposal.

"The value of a native language"

Although Javier Bonet began his appearance last Wednesday by pointing out that the project was available in English, Spanish, and Catalan, the latter's role in the Palma 2031 proposal has been almost negligible. Both the official slogan –Mediterranean in motion– like the slogan that appeared at the end of the first promotional video –Leave with more than a photo, leave with an idea– they were in English. And while Cort has pointed out that this was the language that the Ministry of Culture had determined as the vehicle for facilitating communication with the jury, with foreign members, none of the finalists' slogans are in English: Granada's, for example, is 'Land that inspires, knowledge that transforms', while the one in Las Palmas is 'Rebellion of Geography'.

In the case of Oviedo, the proposal revolves around the word 'kindness', in Asturian, the language used by at least two of the participants in the presentation at the Ministry. In fact, according to the Oviedo 2031 website, the Minister of Culture, Vanessa Gutiérrez, delivered her closing remarks in Asturian to "highlight the value of having a distinct and minority language and its role as an element of cultural identity." As for the Palma 2031 presentation, the speeches were given exclusively in English and Spanish. According to the Palma City Council (Cort), "the organization of these appearances, and therefore also the choice of languages, was carried out by the Ministry, and the same procedure was followed in the presentations of all the candidates." In any case, even now that Palma's candidacy has been ruled out, the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language, for example, has still not received any official information about the candidacy.

Lack of consensus

For their part, all the finalist candidacies have been driven by institutional unity. Granada's project began in 2015 with an initiative unanimously approved by the entire City Council. In the case of Las Palmas, the presentation in Madrid was attended by the city's mayor, the Socialist Carolina Darias, as well as representatives from the People's Party and the Canary Coalition. Both Oviedo and Cáceres have had the support of the regional government and the provincial councils, despite their different political affiliations compared to the city councils. Regarding Palma, Bonet lamented the lack of support from the opposition to the City Council, although since March 2025, when the candidacy was announced, only one meeting has been held with them, shortly before the Ministry's presentation. Furthermore, all the finalist candidacies have had the support of the cultural sector and the involvement of the public. In Oviedo, for example, starting in May 2025, sector-specific working groups were organized in different neighborhoods with the intention of involving residents, community groups, and social stakeholders in the development of the project. In contrast, the first and only open meeting between Palma's bid team and the cultural sector took place months later, in early July. For its part, the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Palma acknowledges that they had not signed the manifesto because they did not feel part of the project. "We have met with them on several occasions, and all they have done is explain their project to us, but participation means taking part," stated Maribel Alcázar, head of the organization. Finally, cities like Cáceres, which presented a bid focused on dialogue between the urban and rural worlds, highlight the "significant increase in visitors" among the advantages of becoming a European Capital of Culture. Conversely, sources at the Palma City Council (Cort) argued that the title would not lead to an increase in tourists. Even during his appearance on March 18th, Javier Bonet highlighted it as one of the city's distinguishing features. "Until now, the title has been awarded to cities focused on attracting more tourism," he asserted, "but we were radically opposed to this idea. We proposed a paradigm shift, reconciling the city with tourism through culture." Both Bonet and Mayor Jaime Martínez have expressed their intention to maintain the roadmap outlined in the Palma 2031 project, despite not passing the initial selection process.