Basque capital Vitoria, Green Capital 2012

On Thursday evening during a conference held in Stockholm, the EC announced its election of the Basque capital of Vitoria-Gasteiz as Green Capital of Europe for 2012.

Vitoria-Gasteiz will succeed Hamburg as ecological capital of Europe. The current Green Capital, Stockholm (the first ever city to receive the distinction) will hand over the baton to the German city of Hamburg in January.

Competing alongside Vitoria for the accolade in 2012 were Barcelona, Malmö (Sweden), Nantes (France), Nuremberg (Germany) and Reykjavik (Iceland).

As soon as he received the news, the mayor of Vitoria, Patxi Lazcoz, became visibly emotional during an interview with Basque Radio station Radio Euskadi. Lazcoz described the five other contending cities as "impressive, first class. We have beaten some great cities."

30 years of green policies

The mayor emphasised that Vitoria-Gasteiz "has been implementing green policies for 30 years". As such, he wished to acknowledge the work of the various councillors who had preceded him and his first phone calls were to José Ángel Cuerda (city mayor between 1979-99) and Alfonso Alonso (mayor between 1999 and 2007). "This success is theirs also," he said.

"Green Capital is the award of all awards in the field of sustainable development," explained Lazcoz, who added that Vitoria''s success was the culmination of "30 years of an impressive process".

Lazcoz also recalled that all three of the Basque capitals are currently "projecting a modern image of Euskadi, very good news for the Basques."

Nantes in 2013

The French town of Nantes was chosen to take up the Green Capital mantel in 2013. European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Potocnik, was in charge of announcing the name of the winning cities in Stockholm.

The annual European Green Capital Award is an initiative designed to recognise the commitment of cities who work in consideration of the environment, making them examples to other cities of how to promote a modern urban lifestyle that is environmentally-friendly.

The choice of green capital is part of a two-day conference, which opened Wednesday and closes this Friday, focusing on urban environmental challenges in a European and global context.