Call to maintain cultural diversity

Date: 04/04/1996

THE Union is facing demands to write specific guarantees of Europe's cultural diversity into the renegotiated treaty which will emerge from the Intergovernmental Conference.

The initiative is being led by the newly-created Europe of Cultures Foundation (ECF). It believes that cultural identities can be the building blocks of the future, helping to foster a greater awareness and sense of Euro-citizenship within the Union.

Luc Van den Brande, the minister-president of Flanders, is a leading supporter of the campaign to give culture a legal foundation in the Union by making nine amendments to the Maastricht Treaty.

“The European Union, with the ECF, can take a still unused, fresh and above all realistic new path which will not only lead to a new enthusiasm for Europe, but also and especially a Europe which is better for its citizens,” he insists.

The message may strike a sympathetic chord with federal countries such as Germany and Belgium and those like Spain with strong regional identities. But it is likely to come under attack from unitary states such as the UK, which frowns on any attempts to introduce EU involvement in cultural matters.

Van Den Brande believes that linguistic, social and other differences influence economic and general political policy, and lie behind differing approaches to current social challenges.

He is convinced there is a strong economic spin-off from recognising cultural diversity.

“Studies indicate that taking account of the cultural characteristics of a region and the cultural diversity within a country or on a continent provides a competitive advantage in comparison to negation of this factor,” he says.

The ECF's aim is to develop European integration on a cultural basis, promoting respect for diversity and the creation of coalitions of interest between different cultures.

The foundation tabled its proposals on the very day that EU governments began to negotiate detailed changes to the Maastricht Treaty.

The ECF wants the Union specifically to recognise “that respect for the different cultures is an important element in the perception of the Union by its citizens and is of great importance to their welfare”.

It also urges the EU to take cultural dimensions into account when preparing and implementing policies and aims to enshrine the right of every EU citizen to use, and to be answered in, his or her own official language in contacts with Union institutions and bodies.

The ECF is also pressuring the Union to promote the development of cultural regions by encouraging cultural exchanges, developing craftsmanship and endorsing media contacts.