"Culture is a relatively new sphere of action for the European Union, at least from a legal standpoint: the legal basis for EU action in this field was only introduced in 1992 with the Maastricht Treaty. This action is aimed at encouraging and supporting cooperation within Europe in order to bring the European common cultural heritage to the fore. 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." (Quoted from paper)