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The year of holding the title of culture capital brought a new period and new experience to Slovenia, the East Cohesion Region, Maribor and the partner towns. The Maribor 2012 institute carried out the biggest European cultural project on behalf of Maribor, Murska Sobota, Novo mesto, Ptuj, Slovenj Gradec and Velenje. The candidature for the ECoC project was lodged by the country on behalf of these cities and towns. And from that time onwards, we can witness the biggest opportunity for establishing relationships and co-operation between the city, the region and country. Uncertainties and lack of clarity regarding the selection of the appropriate organizational form at the beginning also demonstrate the fact that something new had started to happen. That we stood for a project that exceeds the boundaries of the typical practice of cooperation in Slovenia. A long-drawn-out search for solutions and the selection of an inefficient organizational form for the biggest and most recognizable European project in the Republic of Slovenia contributed to the uncertainty of execution of the year of holding the title. Unclear expectations of the stakeholders and at the same time, only a year before holding the title, the many changes in the organization have presented many doubts of how the Republic of Slovenia, the region and the city and towns would be able to justify the acquired title of the European Capital of Culture. What is more, personnel changes in almost all the Institute’s bodies, even just a month before the beginning of the ECoC year, caused confusion regarding the execution of the project. In 2011, an independent Brussels commission at the European Commission registered office verified the reality of execution of the project for the last time and the guarantees that were given by cities and the country. With a team of Maribor 2012 institute’s co-workers, we managed to persuade the independent commission, regardless of all the uncertainties, that we will be able to qualitatively realize the biggest European cultural project with the support of the cities and the country in 2012.
