The mayor presents the corporate image and the basic pillars of the Palma 2031 project, aimed at achieving the designation of the city as the European Capital of Culture.
Jaime Martínez Llabrés has highlighted the participative nature of the candidacy, which will bring together a programming based on the proposals put forward by the independent experts who will be part of the two Working Groups focused on the fields of culture and science.
Palma, June 5, 2025 – The Mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez Llabrés, presented on Thursday the strategic axes and the corporate image of the Palma 2031 project, aimed at successfully obtaining the designation of the city as the European Capital of Culture.
The event took place at the Miró Mallorca Foundation, and was attended by the Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Culture, Javier Bonet; the General Coordinator of Culture and Tourism, Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta; and the General Directors Pilar Ribal (Heritage and City Interpretation), Gori Vicens (Cultural Projects), and Rafel Brunet (Music and Performing Arts), in addition to the Director of the Foundation, Antonia Maria Perelló.
Also present at the presentation was the communication expert Tomàs Oliva Llinàs, who leads the team responsible for designing the project from the perspective of promotional and corporate image.
The event brought together a wide representation of the social, cultural, sectoral, and citizen fabric of Palma, including directors and owners of media outlets, representatives of neighborhood and business associations, and officials from the educational and university fields.
The Mayor of Palma began his speech by stating that today’s meeting «marks the starting point of an ambitious, inspiring, and beneficial action for the city,» and called for the involvement of «everyone, both the government team and the opposition, to actively participate in materializing a collective opportunity aimed at transforming Palma through culture.»
As explained by the Chief Councilor, the designation of the European Capital is a process established by the European Union in 1985, where one or two cities are chosen to become cultural centers of the continent for a year.
In the case of the year 2031, Malta and Spain are the countries that will choose, among the candidates from their respective territories who have submitted the corresponding candidacy, the city that will represent the country as the European Capital of Culture.
Palma is one of the municipalities vying for the designation, and has until the end of 2025 to present its project, which will be evaluated by a committee composed of 10 experts appointed by the EU institutions and organizations, who will prepare a report that, regarding Spain, will be evaluated by the Ministry of Culture.
The ministerial department will then approve the list of Spanish cities participating in the final phase of the selection process, from which the winning candidate will be chosen, always following the recommendations of the expert committee.
The final decision must be communicated four years before the start of the year of the capital and, therefore, before the beginning of 2027.
The project to be submitted to the evaluation of EU experts must contain, as explained by the Mayor of Palma, «a cultural program with a strong European dimension,» which, in the case of the Balearic capital, «will be based on a perspective clearly rooted in the collective approach.»
With the intention of realizing this participatory spirit of the candidacy, Jaime Martínez Llabrés announced that two independent professional Working Groups will be established, which, following his argument, «will operate with complete autonomy to specify the content of the program of activities and initiatives.»
A first Group will be artistic in nature, bringing together exhibition curators, creators, cultural managers, and local and international agents, and the second, of a scientific nature, will be composed of researchers, technicians, thinkers, educators, and sustainability experts.
The two Working Groups will be presented on June 12 and 13, on which dates the names of their members will be revealed.
According to Martínez Llabrés, their function will be to «provide the Palma 2031 project with the rigor, professionalism, and independence necessary to shape a solid, inspiring, and useful proposal for the future of Palma.»
In this way, according to the Chief Councilor, «we will have a consensual candidacy where all sensitivities will be represented.»
Regarding the project’s relationship with tourism, Martínez Llabrés emphasized that the intention is «not to grow in numbers, but in quality of life,» transforming the model «from the root, with culture as the driving force, and the well-being of the citizens as a priority,» which is why the two Working Groups will involve experts in tourism, sustainability, and local development.
The designation that the City Council has chosen to frame the corporate communication of Palma 2031 is ‘Mediterrània in Motion,’ which refers, as explained by the Mayor, «to the concepts of accessibility and inclusion as fundamental axes.»
The goal is, as stated by Martínez Llabrés, «to bet on a culture without barriers, where everyone can participate on equal terms, as well as on universal accessibility in spaces, content, and activities, and on inclusion and integration as tools to share creation from diversity.»
For the Chief Councilor, ‘Mediterrània in Motion’ is an initiative that «will promote greater social cohesion, giving voice to historically marginalized groups, and strengthening the sense of belonging to the community and the territory.»
In parallel, the Mayor stressed that the project «will improve equitable access to culture, creating more open, empathetic, and safe spaces, and will promote new forms of citizen participation, more representative and democratic, positioning Palma as a European reference in cultural accessibility and inclusion.»
During Thursday’s event at the Miró Mallorca Foundation, Jaime Martínez Llabrés also presented the official website of ‘Mediterrània in Motion,’ currently in testing but already accessible to users.
Within the participatory philosophy of the candidacy, this digital platform will give all citizens the opportunity to propose ideas and suggestions that can enrich Palma’s proposal to the expert committee that must analyze the program of each of the territories vying for the capital.
In the final part of his speech, the Mayor reiterated that, starting today, «Palma is set in motion, and we are all invited to participate in the process, both institutions, entities, neighborhood and citizen fabric, cultural sector, university world, different sectoral areas, and political groups represented in the City Council.»
In this regard, he recalled that on May 20, coinciding with the meeting of the Municipal Council of Culture, held in the Plenary Room of Cort, the Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Culture, Javier Bonet, presented the main aspects of the Palma 2031 project, in the presence of the spokespersons and representatives of the municipal groups.
Likewise, in a short period of time, the government team plans to hold a meeting with the opposition parties in the municipality to further detail the content of the action.
In this regard, the Mayor of Palma defended that the candidacy for the European Capital of Culture «is a project of the entire Corporation, of government and opposition,» to which he has requested «the spirit of collaboration that the city needs and deserves to advance in its social and cultural transformation.»
FUENTE