Council Conclusions on the Work Plan for Culture 2019-2022

The new Work Plan for Culture to be adopted by the Council of the EU

Following the Permanent Representatives’ meeting last 14 November 2018, the conclusions have now been published and the Council of the EU has been invited to adopt them. These conclusions acknowledge the New European Agenda for Culture 2018 and its main objectives, the outcomes of the European Year of Cultural Heritage as well as the synergies of relevant EU programmes and funds. The committee thus invites the Commission to adopt a mid-term evaluation of the Work Plan and a final report on its implementation, based on voluntary written contributions from Member States, by June 2022.

Amongst the Work Plan for Culture’s main guidelines, the Cultural Diplomacy Platform is particularly interested in this one:

Regular dialogue between Member States, European institutions and civil society as well as thematic cooperation with international organisations create synergies and lead to better results.

International Cultural Relations are also amongst the top five priorities of the Work Plan for Culture:

Building on the notion that culture is a value in its own right, the international cultural relations of the EU should strengthen awareness of the vital role of culture and its positive socio-economic effects, which address important issues and challenges at global level. A strategic step-by-step approach to international cultural relations followed by concrete actions for its implementation is necessary. Such an approach should entail a bottom-up perspective, encourage people-to-people contacts and promote intercultural dialogue. Full complementarity with Member States’ actions and actions carried out by the Council of Europe and UNESCO has to be ensured.

The concrete actions of the Work Plan for Culture relating to International Cultural Relations will be implemented as follows:

• Working Methods: Meetings of the Cultural Affairs Committee (CAC) and/or other appropriate fora with the participation of the EEAS and officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and other relevant ministries, expert meetings and a Presidency conference.
• Rationale: Taking forward the work of the Friends of Presidency Group (2017/18) on the same topic, the Council will be invited to react to the Joint Communication from the Commission and the EEAS ‘Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations’ (2016), by identifying common strategic principles, objectives and priorities of the EU approach, clarifying the roles of the actors involved and proposing areas where joint action at the European Union level is most relevant.
• Target outputs: Taking into account the horizontal nature of this task, the aim is to bring together experts from different sectors (e.g. culture, foreign affairs, education, migration, development cooperation, customs and enterprise policies) to develop a common EU strategic approach to international cultural relations, followed by concrete actions for its implementation.