17/09/2020 (Agence Europe) – The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, suggested, on Wednesday 16 September, that “a Bauhaus [be set up as] a co-creation space where architects, artists, students, engineers, designers work together” to give style to the wave of building renovation that the Next Generation EU recovery plan will finance. This plan must be “a new cultural project”, she said in her State of the Union address. On Thursday Martina Michels (GUE/NGL, Germany) criticised Ms von der Leyen: “Such announcements cannot hide the fact that essential cultural and educational programs for the next 7 years have just been cut by the Commission.” She referred to the European Parliament’s resolution calling for “at least 2%” of the European plan to be devoted to reviving the cultural sector (see other news). (MB)