In preparation to the 2014 European Election Culture Action Europe proposed to several MEP candidates the establishment of a parliamentary intergroup on the impact of the EU policy and legislation on culture.
(BACKGROUND ON INTERGROUPS)
The Intergroups are not official bodies of the European Parliament, but they are composed by MEPs representing minimum three different political groups.
They are good working frameworks for the Civil Society and Members of the European Parliament (EP) to forge alliances in support of objectives that can benefit from a cross-partisan and trans-disciplinary coalition and are set up for a whole parliamentary term. They allow to best tackle important issues that cross the borders of the different Committees remit.
Their establishment is regulated by the EP and, despite the proposals largely exceed, their number is strictly limited .
The European Union competences on culture are limited and so are those of the Parliamentary Committee for Culture.
In addition, the same Parliamentary Committee is in charge of a wide dossier including Education, Youth and more. However many policy areas impacting on culture are not falling in its remit. As a result cultural policy and Culture as topic for discussion and deliberation are too often marginal into the European Parliament agenda and works.
Advancing the proposal of an Intergroup on culture with the focus on “The Impact Of The EU Legislation And Policy On Culture”, CAE advocated for the creation of a space for reflection and commitment on several issues related to culture (eg. telecommunication, state aid…) to ensure that the potential of culture as a strategic resource and key asset in the EU is explored when building sustainable and smart Europe and creating well-being for the current and future generations. Click here to read the proposal note written by CAE.
CAE’s proposal also reflected the necessity to better influence the revision of the Europe2020 strategy and to develop new kind of policies at European level that better impact on the current period of profound transition.
Indeed, after the economic crisis, numerous EU policies were launched in order to retrieve economic growth (balanced by some redistribution attempts), even if this paradigm does not fit the current world anymore and paved the way to the current crisis.
CAE said that is time to consider the crisis as a transition period in which to adjust the models we build Europe on and assess the impact and role of culture in shaping new sustainable societies in Europe.
To this regard the notion of culture should not be limited to artistic life and heritage but should incorporate a large set of human activities through which individuals and communities forge social bonds and consolidate capacities and resources that are essential to generating social capital and boosting economy. The proposal CAE advanced aimed to mainstreaming this view as well.
On CAE’s proposal, MEP Mercedes Bresso (Socialists and Democrats, Italy – Former president of the Committee of the Regions) and MEP Bogdan Zdrojewski (European People’s Party, Poland – Former Minister for Culture) invited their colleagues to support the establishment of the Intergroup. The initiative was supported and formally subscribed by the following MEPs:
Adam Szejneld (PL)
Agnieszka Kozlowska-Rajewicz (PL)
Alessandra Moretti (IT)
Bogdan Wenta (PL)
Bogdan Zdrojewski (PL)
Czeslaw Siekierski (PL)
Daniele Viotti (IT)
Danuta Jalowiecka (PL)
Dariusz Rosati (PL)
Dominique Bilde (FR)
Elzbieta Lukacjewska (PL)
Fernando Maura (ES)
Jan Olbrycht (PL)
Janusz Lewandowski (PL)
Janusz Wojciechowsk (PL)
Jaroslaw Kalinowski (PL)
Jaroslaw Walesa (PL)
Jerzy Buzek (PL)
Julia Pitera (PL)
Julie Ward (UK)
Kati Piri (NL)
Krzysztof Hetman (PL)
Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (PL)
Luigi Morgano (IT)
Marek Grzyb (PL)
Marek Plura (PL)
Marjete Schaake (NL)
Mercedes Bresso (IT)
Michal Boni (PL)
Roza Thun (PL)
Ryszard Czarnecki (PL)
Sabine Verheyen (DE)
Silvia Costa (IT)
Sirpa Pietikainen (FI)
Tadeusz Zwiefka (PL)
Theodoros Zagorakis (GR)
Zdzislaw Krasnodebski (PL)
Thanks to their support, CAE initiative has been included in the final voting list of the major political groups, each of which had to internally rank the proposals.
However, despite the wide support, the CAE intergroup proposal did not gather enough votes to pass the last selection, as it was announced on December 1, 2014.
