Brussels, 18/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission reacted in a particularly positive way to the decision taken by relevant national ministers to give it a mandate that will empower it to negotiate on behalf of the European Community and its Member States within the Unesco Convention on cultural diversity. The decision was taken by the Education and Culture Council (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.16). Negotiations began at Unesco on the basis of a draft convention on protecting the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions. The aim is to recognise states' rights and specify their duties in preserving and promoting cultural diversity and to establish a framework favouring international cooperation in this area. The Council calls on the Commission to represent the European Union during negotiations and to ensure that the future convention is compatible with Community acquis and policies, guarantee the primacy of Community law over the convention's provisions within the European Union, and enable the European Community to become a contracting party to the future convention.
The EU had earlier submitted an initial set of comments on the draft convention to Unesco on 15 November. These comments above all drew attention to: - compliance with human rights and fundamental freedoms, which must not be weakened in the name of culture or tradition; - the recognition of the specific and dual (cultural and economic) nature of cultural goods and services; - recognition of the role of public policies in safeguarding and promoting cultural diversity and the sovereign right of States and other relevant public authorities; - the importance of international cooperation to face cultural vulnerabilities, in particular toward developing countries; - and the need for convention provisions to be fully articulated with other international instruments and bodies.