VILNIUS — The Vilnius European Capital of Culture 2009 project is in danger of running into the red because its two parent organizations are having trouble financing the project.

The event has suffered financially since the end of 2008 when the government almost canceled the year-long event because of funding problems. It’s financing, only 43 percent of what 2009’s other capital of culture, Linz, Austria spent, was halved.

“This is a question about getting money physically,” Vilnius European Capital of Culture director Rolandas Kvietkauskas told Baltic Reports. “If we speak about last year or any projects organized this year, we have budget lines and the flow of money is not as it was planned at the beginning of that year, so there are some delays in payment.”

The year is nearly over, and the Vilnius European Capital of Culture project legacy may be defined by a prosecutor's investigation, mountains of debt and a drop-off in tourists to Vilnius.

Vilnius European Capital of Culture (VECC) owes around 800,000 litai (€232,000) to various artists and organizations for 2008, while Kvietkauskas said the tabulation of debt for this year is an “ongoing process.”

Kvietkauskas is the event’s second director after the first, Elona Bajorinienė, was forced to resign in February amid amid allegations of corruption and embezzlement. The prosecutor’s investigation into the project’s finances under Bajorinienė’s watch is ongoing.

Kvietkauskas said he hoped all payments will be made on time, adding that some delayed payment schedules had been organized with creditors to accommodate them.

“Regarding the debt, we inherited some debt from 2008 and during that year we managed we to give a significant amount of money to those who gave us services,” he said. “I have the idea that we will manage to finish the year without serious debts.”

The VECC is co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and the Vilnius Municipal government. In late 2008, cuts made by the city prompted the ministry to do likewise, leaving the VECC with around 20 million litai (€5.7 million), about half of the original amount. The cuts led to wholesale cancellations in the program.

Vice Mayor of Vilnius Gintautas Babravičius was more pessimistic than the Kvietkauskas about whether the VECC’s debts can be paid off this year.

“This year, certainly we can not eliminate all debts. We are moving slowly forward, but we should first be accountable to the events of 2008’s artists, and only then we can think of 2009’s debt,” Babravičius told the press.