Brussels, 08/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 8 September, the European Parliament adopted, by a large majority (613 votes in favour, 70 against and 19 abstentions), the report by Mircea Diaconu (ALDE, Romania) on an integrated approach to cultural heritage in Europe.
The text stresses the importance of the EU funding and the contributions made by the European institutions to help member states preserve and promote cultural heritage, in order to reach its full social, economic and environmental impact. “Cultural heritage is a core component of our identity. In the midst of the current crisis of European identity and values, this report aims to put cultural heritage higher on the political agenda”, Diaconu commented.
At the press conference which followed the vote, in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Mircea Diaconu welcomed the broad consensus which rallied together on the subject: “a subject of general interest”, with most of the no-votes to be explained more by political positioning than by any negative reactions to the report. It advances several concrete proposals for change in order to improve both European policy and the implementation of various European programmes and actions in the field of cultural heritage. Among the many measures it contains, the report calls for the creation of a European Year of Cultural Heritage and a single European portal centralising information on funding available for cultural heritage in the framework of European programmes.
Fernando Maura, vice-president of ALDE and member of the committee on culture, also stressed the importance of the report, particularly following attacks which destroyed the ancient site of Palmyra. Stressing that this was an attack on the universal heritage that we all share, the MEP called for international cooperation to preserve the cultural heritage of Syria, “one of the richest civilisations of the world”. (Isabelle Lamberty)