Culture

Headline
Culture lies at the heart of the European project and is the anchor on which the European Union's “unity in diversity” motto is founded. The combination of respect for cultural diversity and the ability to unite around shared values has guaranteed the peace, prosperity and solidarity the EU enjoys. In today's globalising world, culture can make a unique contribution to a European Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, promoting stability, mutual understanding and cooperation worldwide.
European Commission

Culture has become an explicit focus of policy concern for the European Union over the last two decades. This is related to the introduction of new spheres of competence, including social policy, education and health, along with the development of a more explicitly political dimension to the project of European integration.
The Open University

EU Treaty
Article 128 of the Treaty on European Union signed in 1992 in Maastricht states: “The Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore”.
European Journal of Social Theory

Article 3 of the EU Treaty refers to general support for the promotion of culture and education, Article 30 refers to the free circulation of cultural products, and Article 87.3.b, which highlights the importance of culture in the context of state aid regulations, provides an exception from these rules about aid to states in cases where aid is granted to promote culture and heritage conservation.

Articles 23, 24, 39 and 55 of the Treaty refer to the free circulation of goods and services and the free movement of people within the Union. Article 30 limits free circulation of goods when it concerns the import, export or transit of cultural goods of special artistic, historic or archaeological value.
European Cultural Foundation

Two Directorates Administrate EU's Cultural Activities
Regarding the institutional structure, since 2004, the cultural activities are administered by two separate directorates within the European Commission. The culture sector is administered by the directorate of Education and Culture, while the audio-visual sector is under the Information Society and Media directorate.

European Cultural Foundation

The first budget lines specifically for culture voted by the European Parliament during the 1970s mostly concerned heritage matters and involved relatively small amounts of money. However, these budgetary inroads enabled the Commission, in 1973, to create a small unit dedicated to cultural affairs, thus establishing a strategic bridgehead for advancing further ideas in the field of cultural affairs.
University of Auckland

Structural Funds
Structural Funds are offered for cultural programmes, as the role of culture within the Structural Funds has evolved in recent years and continues to evolve.  Between 2007-2013, €6 billion have been allocated for culture based projects, representing 1.7% of the total Structural Funds budget.

European Commission

The Culture Programme
The Culture Programme aims to promote Europe’s cultural diversity and its heritage, by encouraging citizens who work in the cultural sector to engage with their counterparts in different member states, facilitating both intercultural dialogue and the exchange of cultural output across borders. The EU provides support to cultural bodies and ensures that the cultural output is disseminated within the union. The Culture Programme covers the period from 2007 to 2013 with a total budget of €400 million.
Times of Malta

The 1957 Treaty of Rome, which laid the constitutional foundations for the EU, contained only two minor references to culture, the first relating to “non-discrimination” and the second to exceptions to the free movement of goods where a special case can be made for “the protection of national treasures possessing artistic, historical, or archaeological value”.
University of Auckland

The year 1987 represented a turning point: the European ministers of culture officially established the Council of Ministers of Culture and the ad hoc Commission for Cultural Issues. The European Parliament also adopted another important document, “Initiating cultural activities in the EC”.
European Cultural Foundation

In 1992, Article 128 of the Maastricht Treaty, later to become Article 151 in the Treaty of Amsterdam, was the first Article explicitly relating to culture and calling for contributions to the flowering of the cultures of the member states and respect for diversity; support and supplementing of actions of member states; fostering cooperation with third countries. It also stated that the Community should take cultural aspects into account in all its actions and that all decisions about culture should be adopted unanimously.
European Cultural Foundation

The challenge of connecting citizens through cultural means is certainly not to be underestimated. As the concept of culture encompasses a wide range of elements, including artistic works and services as well as a nation’s deeply rooted value set, addressing “culture” in tangible and concrete ways can be a fairly complex venture.
Times of Malta

Cultural Barriers
Culture is a fundamental element in the implementation of EU policy objectives. Overcoming cultural barriers is an effective way to address market fragmentation which hinders the establishment of an internal market for numerous goods, services and brands. Cultural policies remain essentially national in their scope. However, they share common aims of promoting artistic excellence, democratising access to culture, securing funding for the arts and safeguarding national heritage and local cultural industries.
EUObserver

Culture in Times of Crisis
In consequence of the European economic crisis, public expenditures for culture and arts have decreased dramatically. Traditionally, public subsidies have been the main resource for the maintenance of projects, buildings and the salaries of artists and cultural employees. However, after a few years of crisis and drastic budget cuts, new sources of income in the cultural sector will have to be explored.

EAEA

At present, the importance of culture and the job creation potential of the culture industries is being recognized. There are three dimensions along which culture is ascribed a role in boosting employment: a direct role in the growth of employment in cultural industries; an indirect role in improving the image of regions, capitalising on cultural assets as part of place-marketing strategies to attract investment; and an indirect role in promoting social integration and social cohesion.
The Open University

A New Agenda for Culture
The core objectives of the future European activity in the cultural field are the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue; the promotion of culture as a catalyst for creativity and the creation of new jobs; and the promotion of culture as a vital element in EU’s international relations. The new direction in policy-making at European level will require enhanced coordination of domestic cultural policies, at the same time with giving cultural policies greater weight in EU’s external relations.
Europa Institute

The European Agenda for Culture
In 2007, the European Commission set out an overall European Agenda for Culture, designed to guide the EU in its culture-related ambitions. First of all, the agenda puts a particular focus on cultural diversity and intercultural exchange. The second objective under this agenda is to promote the contribution of culture to the creative sector. Finally, the European Agenda for Culture also aims to highlight the role of culture in Europe’s relations with countries around the world.
Times of Malta

Culture Programme (2007 - 2013)
The European Commission encourages culture in two ways: through policies, chiefly cultural policy, but also by mainstreaming the cultural dimension in other areas of EU interest such as for instance in competition or industrial policy; and through financial support, primarily via the Culture Programme. The Programme has been designed to serve policy development in the cultural field and ultimately to promote common cultural values aiming to enhance the cultural heritage shared by Europe’s peoples.

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency European Commission

European Capitals of Culture
The European Capitals of Culture (ECC) is a flagship cultural initiative of the European Union and an illustration of the EU’s commitment to cultural diversity, but also of how culture can unite people within Europe. This represents an opportunity for Europeans to meet, to learn about their diversity, but at the same time to enjoy together their common history and values, to cooperate in new initiatives and projects: in other words, to experience the feeling of belonging to the same European community.
European Commission

Workplan for Culture 2011 - 2014
The Work Plan for Culture 2011-2014 is the continuation of the European Council's Work Plan for Culture 2008-2010 and part of the Europe 2020, a strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in the EU. The Work Plan sets out six priority areas: cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and accessible and inclusive culture; cultural and creative industries; skills and mobility; cultural heritage, including mobility of collections; culture in external relations; culture statistics.
Official Journal of the European Union

Cultural Employment
In 2010, the economic performance of the cultural and creative sectors in the EU accounted for 3.3% of GDP and employed 6.7 million people (3 % of total employment). The fashion and high-end industries, which rely on a strong cultural and creative input, accounted for 3% of the EU GDP each and employed respectively 5 and 1 million people, with employment in the high-end industries expected to reach 2 million by 2020.
European Commission

In 2009, at EU-27 level, 3.6 million people were employed in the five main cultural sectors of economic activity (Publishing activities; Motion picture, video and television programme production; Programming and broadcasting activities; Creative arts and entertainment activities; Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities), representing 1.7 % of total employment. The highest shares in this respect were found in the Nordic countries and the lowest in Portugal, Romania and Turkey.
Eurostat

Perception of Culture
A special Eurobarometer on cultural values was conducted in 2007 and aimed at querying respondents on their perception of culture, as well as its role and importance. Regardless of how it is defined, culture holds a prominent place in the lives of Europeans. Over three quarters (77 %) of all persons surveyed answered that culture was important to them, while 22 % considered that culture was unimportant.

Eurostat

Cultural Participation
In 2006, about 45% of Europeans aged 25–64 years declared having participated in cultural activities such as going to the cinema, attending live performances and visiting cultural sites at least once in the last 12 months. However, the intensity of those three activities varied considerably from one country to another, with the highest rates observed in northern countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Eurostat

Cultural Expenditure
In 2005, on average, culture accounted for 3.9 % of total expenditure in EU-27 households. This share was the highest in Denmark, Finland and the Czech Republic, with more than 5 % of total expenditure devoted to cultural goods and services.

Eurostat