Cultural Capital Candidates Present Applications

Representatives of 10 German candidate cities to become Europe's capital of culture capital in 2010 on Friday handed in their applications to the foreign ministry in Berlin. In the running are Braunschweig (Lower Saxony), Bremen, Essen (North Rhine-Westphalia), Görlitz (Saxony), Halle/Saale (Saxony-Anhalt), Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg), Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein), Potsdam (Brandenburg) and Regensburg (Bavaria). In the fall, the German foreign ministry will pass on the applications to Germany's upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, to give the chamber a chance to comment on them. An expert panel appointed by the European Union will then make the final decision.