The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe welcomed its 40^th member State following the accession of the Republic of Malta on 30^th August.

Established in 2010 by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe and twelve founding member States, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes was established to oversee the implementation of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme, founded in 1987. The Programme counts today 38 Council of Europe member States, one Observer to the Council of Europe (The Holy See) and one non-Council of Europe State (Lebanon). The EPA also currently has one Observer State – Estonia (for 2023).

The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme counts to-date 47 certified Cultural Routes. Thanks to the intercultural, multidisciplinary, and creative exchanges fostered by the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe, links are forged between history and heritage on the one hand, and between culture and contemporary art on the other: they establish a creative relationship between the past, the present and the future, where citizens participation and local sustainable development at the forefront of every activities implement by the over 3,500 institutional routes network members across Europe and beyond.

The success of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme is made possible thanks to the support of Luxembourg, who founded the European Institute of Cultural Routes (EICR) in 1998. Technical agency of the Programme, the EICR hosts the seat of the EPA and its Secretariat at Neumünster Abbaye in Luxembourg city.

The EPA Governing Board is currently chaired by Mrs Urzsula SLAZAK, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. Ambassador Patrick ENGELBERG, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the Council of Europe, is the Chair of the EPA Statutory Committee. Ambassador Jean Claude KUGENER is the President of the European  Institute of Cultural Routes.  

The EPA Secretariat would like to wholeheartedly thank all EPA member States for their continuous support.