At their informal meeting on Tuesday 26 September (see EUROPE 13256/22), the EU ministers responsible for culture unanimously adopted the Cáceres Declaration. The text, put forward by the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council, calls, among other things, for culture to be considered as an “essential global public good”.
For Spain’s acting Minister for Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, the ministers’ consensus represents a “strong statement” of the EU’s commitment to culture.
A public good
In order to make culture a “global public good at the highest political level”, the text calls for Member States’ cultural policies to be strengthened.
“Commitment to culture, to the freedom of creators, to their rights, to their working conditions, to participation and access, must always be among the objectives of any public authority”, it says.
“Culture is not yet one of the pillars of EU policies, but there is substantial consensus among the Member States to move in that direction”, emphasised Mr Iceta following the meeting.
Sustainable development
The declaration also affirms the commitment of the EU27 to ensuring that culture becomes a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) within the post-2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
During their working sessions, the ministers also discussed ways of promoting the conservation and sustainable management of cultural heritage.
Priorities of the European Commission
Lastly, the ministers discussed the work programme of the new European Commissioner for Culture, Iliana Ivanova. She set out her three priorities for the European cultural and creative sector: to defend a strong dedicated budget, to raise the alarm about the situation of the sector, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and “to make efforts to reduce fragmentation within the creative and cultural sector” (see EUROPE 13243/2).
The Cáceres Declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/8r1 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)