Manfred Gaulhofer, President of the Jury for European Capital of Culture 2016, announced the name of the winning city at the auditorium of the Ministry of Culture. First, he listed the strengths of each finalist. In the case of Donostia he said that the city’s project had “excited” the jury due to the effort that had been made "to overcome a background of violence". In this context he expressed his conviction that the designation of San Sebastián as European Capital of Culture would “help to bring an end to acts of violence in the Basque Country".