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

culture, which needs to be exempt from anyharmonization.101 This can also be illustrated by therecent negotiations in UNESCO: the scopeof that Convention, although it refers toculture, also touched upon exclusive andshared competences of the Union (forinstance, development policy, trade policy,IPR and so on). It was therefore necessaryfor all member states to achieve a consensusand to ensure that they were representedduring negotiations either by the currentPresidency or by the European Commissionin order to respect the provisions of theacquis communautaire. At first it was difficultfor some member states to accept that theyneeded this consensus, since they wereaccustomed to the principle that culturalmatters were solely a matter for decisionat a national level. However, developmentsin UNESCO also prove that it is no longerpossible to exclude culture from other policieswith which it is linked.102 A study which set out some interestingideas about this, also referred to the needfor more coordinated policy on culturalcooperation beyond the borders of the EU(Dittrich van Weringh and Schürmann, 2004).103 For example preferential treatment forcultural goods and services for developingcountries.104 In this context, it is important tohighlight that Article 151 refers explicitly tonon-commercial cultural exchanges.Notes89