Why we need European cultural policies: the impact of EU ...

Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, was speaking – see previous page – ata conference which marked the first of a series of events 96 gathering top intellectuals andEuropean policy-makers to discuss the future of culture in the European Union.I agree fully with Barroso. What, however, does the term, `proper attention’, mean? After all, asmy study has indicated after analyzing the effects of EU enlargement on culture in nearly all thecountries which joined, culture was ignored in that process. Not only that – the link betweenculture and economy was not established directly, only indirectly, and no mechanisms have beenput in place to examine any possible future interaction between these two. It is not at all clear how`proper attention’ will be manifested.In other words, what is the future of the treatment of culture in the EU? In my view, there are onlytwo possible scenarios. The first one continues an approach towards culture which can best bedescribed as the concept of `l’exception culturelle’. This mostly focusses on cultural identity andtherefore should be dealt with by the government which is closest to that culture. Its concern isto preserve national cultures and existing policies. This is the concept that has so far dominatedEuropean cultural policy-making.Cultural diversity: the way forward?The alternative would be to move towards a more dynamic and contemporary view of culture.It would be both about commercial and non-commercial culture, and about cultures growingand interacting with each other. This approach to culture perhaps could be best described asthe concept of `cultural diversity’. In my view, adopting this approach would require theEU member states agreeing to pursue more proactive cultural policy-making. This is essential, todeal with issues such as all aspects of culture being liable to be turned into products with a price(commodification), and conceptual issues such as `the horizontal and vertical integrationof cultural markets’. Issues such as this have been much affected by developments in thosesectors which have long been on the EU agenda and where member states have agreed toshared policies.And if policy-makers turn away from this strategy, what then? Then there will be a need for evenmore `exceptions’ for culture, to protect it from the impact of measures which indirectly impingeon culture. Indeed, for those concerned about cultural policy issues this would be the only way toinclude culture on the agenda.70Part 3 What will the future bring?