Culture is the Key
Emil Boc
“If I had to do it all over again, I would start with culture.”(Jean Monnet) Quoting one of the founding fathers of the European Union I would like to emphasize the important role that culture currently plays in consolidating the European identity and fighting extremism and populism. Culture is a key factor in consolidating Europe from bottom up, after decades of top down European construction.
5 proposals made on the European Committee of the Regions Plenary on February the 6th, 2019 during the Culture, Youth, Education debate:
1. A financial support framework for a network of former European Youth Capital cities and financial support for cities that qualified in the selection phase of the European Capitals of Culture competition on the condition of implementing the proposed cultural programmes;
2. Increasing EU co-financing rates for Creative Europe projects from 50/60% to 80/100/%;
3. A European mobility fund for artists of all ages, similar to the Erasmus schemes;
4. Integrating the actions of Urbact, Erasmus+ and Creative Europe Programmes to ensure coherent support and policy frameworks for culture and youth;
5. Start discussions around a possible regulation at EU level of the Status of artists and cultural workers in Europe.
Emil Boc (@EmilBoc), Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the second-largest city in Romania, in terms of size and economic development. Member of the A Soul for Europe Advisory Board. PhD in Political Science, Associate professor at Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, awarded Honorary Degree of Doctor of Law from Michigan State University in East Lansing, U.S. Former Prime Minister of Romania during 2008–2012, former President of the Democratic Liberal Party during 2005–2012.
