With her our team is complete: The Mayor of Chemnitz, Barbara Ludwig, initiated the application. She is confident that, by becoming aware of its own strengths, its proactive can-do approach and creative potential, Chemnitz will evolve from being a city in Europe into a being European city. That is why she not only advocates broad political and administrative support for the application, but also the embedding of Chemnitz2025 in a city-wide strategy for the period up to 2040, in which culture will set the agenda. As Saxon Minister of State for Science and Art (2004–2006), she actively participated in the Görlitz bid for European Capital of Culture 2010.