Fact Sheets on the European Union – 2 - EU Bookshop - Europa

the Lisbon strategy. Promoting cultural industries is also part of
the current Agenda for culture (see above), which is now to be
implemented in a three-year work plan.
3. Cultural goods
According to Article 30 of the EC Treaty, prohibitions or
restrictions on the import, export or transit of national
treasures possessing artistic, historic or archaeological value
are permissible so long as they do not constitute a means of
discrimination or restriction on trade between Member States.
In view of the implications of the abolition of frontier controls
in connection with the consolidation of the internal market,
rules were needed for the protection of cultural goods.
Therefore, the EU adopted Regulation (EEC) No 3911/92,
according to which the export of cultural goods is subject to
the presentation of an EU export licence, which is valid
throughout the Community and is checked at the external
borders. Council Directive 93/7/EEC was adopted in 1993 to
secure the return of national treasures of artistic, historic or
archaeological value that have been unlawfully removed from
a Member State’s territory.
4. European Capital of Culture
The European Capital of Culture was launched in Athens in
1985 and has been a genuine success. In 1999, Decision
No 1419/1999/EC laid down the selection procedure for
European Capitals of Culture from 2005. These are designated
by the Council according to a set order of Member States,
acting on a recommendation from the Commission, which
takes the opinion of a selection panel into consideration. The
decision also provides for the possibility of designating an
additional city from a third country.
After enlargement, Decision 649/2005/EC came into force,
enabling the new Member States also to propose candidate
cities. This means that now at least two capitals will be
designated each year: one in one of the old Member States,
and the other in one of the new Member States. To further
improve the selection process, on 24 October 2006 a new
decision was adopted (1622/2006/EC). This decision stresses
the European dimension, encourages competition between
candidate cities in the Member States, and provides more
support to the selected cities in their preparation phase. The
new procedure will come into force in 2013.
5. Town twinning and European citizenship
The idea of town twinning was born after World War II. It now
brings together towns and localities from the whole of Europe
and promotes close links between their citizens. On the
initiative of Parliament, in 1989 the EU established a support
scheme for twinning events. Since 2004 town twinning has
been part of the Community action plan to promote active
European citizenship (2004-2006). Every year the Commission
awards ‘gold stars’ for town twinning to 10 outstanding
projects which have made a successful contribution to
European integration. From 2007 town twinning will also
receive support from the new Europe for citizens programme
(2007–13). (4.17.7). This programme will inter alia increase
exchanges and mobility of citizens and promote civil society
institutions working on European topics.
6. Intercultural dialogue
In view of the increasing multiculturalism of European
societies, the Commission aims to intensify and give a better
structure to the longstanding intercultural dialogue which has
been fostered by Community measures. To this end,
intercultural dialogue will become a horizontal priority in all
Community programmes in this area. The Commission has also
proposed to make 2008 the European Year of Intercultural
Dialogue. Through a number of diverse programmes in
connection with this year, civil society and its various
representatives will be encouraged to engage in dialogue at
European, national and local level. The relevant decision was
adopted in December 2006 (No 1983/2006/EC).
Recently the European institutions have increasingly organised
initiatives concerned with dialogue with the representatives of
various religions. This dimension will become more significant
when the new Lisbon Treaty comes into force. This states:
‘Recognising their identity and their specific contribution, the
Union shall maintain an open, transparent and regular
dialogue with these churches and organisations.’ (Article 15b
TFEU).
Role of the European Parliament
Parliament believes that European integration should be based
on cultural values. To this end, Parliament decided to establish
a committee responsible for cultural matters after its first direct
elections in 1979. Parliament had for many years been of the
opinion that the EC Treaty should include a legal basis for
cultural policy. With the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty, it
not only saw this wish fulfilled, but it also obtained co-decision
competence with the Council.
In past years Parliament in its resolutions has called for
budgetary resources for culture to be increased, for the
situation of those working in the field of culture to be
improved and for Europe’s cultural heritage to be more
appreciated. With regard to artistic creation, Parliament is in
favour of giving the Member States the option of applying
reduced VAT rates to a wider range of services and goods such
as recorded music and films, provided that this does not affect
the functioning of the internal market. It called for the
continuation of the lower VAT rate experiment for some
sectors (resolution of 4 December 2003). Parliament also
adopted a resolution on new challenges for the circus (T6-
0386/2005), calling on the Commission to introduce
mechanisms for Member States’ cooperation to guarantee and
promote an adequate education for children from travelling
communities. Improving conditions for travelling artists is also
a concern of the own-initiative report on the social security
status of artists (T6-0346/2007)
As regards cultural heritage, in a resolution on this issue
Parliament advocated better protection of cultural heritage in
rural and island communities (T6-0355/2006). In addition, in
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