Sipus, who has been recently appointed culture minister, on Tuesday for the first time attended a meeting of the EU Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council which formally adopted a decision to declare Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and Matera (Italy) European Capitals of Culture for 2019.
"The Council has officially adopted this decision, and we are waiting for the arrival of an international commission in Zagreb on May 26-29 and then we will know which Croatian cities will enter the second round," Sipus said.
In 2020 one Croatian and one Irish city will be declared European Capitals of Culture. Croatian cities that submitted their candidacies for this title are Dubrovnik, Djakovo, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Varazdin, Zadar and Zagreb.