European Convention
Rue de la Loi 175
1048 Brussels
Madrid, 30th of January 2003
Referring to the principles mentioned in our statement from 7th September 2002 conc. the EU Convention Process, the European Council of Artists hereby wants to express our support to the proposals on how to include culture and education in the drafted Constitutional Treaty, which have been presented by a.o. European Forum of Arts and Heritage and the European Cultural Foundation.
The proposals involve the articles 1, 2, 3, 5, 12 and 42 of the Preliminary Draft Constitutional Treaty and aim to recognize the cultural dimension as a basic principle for the European Union, to enforce co-ordination between the member states in the cultural field and also enable community action, and to take the cultural potentials into consideration in the relations to countries outside the European Union.
Well functioning and competent community structures within in the cultural area is of importance for all artists – no matter if their artistic productions are border crossing or mainly domestic.
The arts and the artists are affected by a number of challenges, which cannot be addressed by national governments only, for example:
- the global commercial challenges to cultural diversity
- the digital challenges to intellectual property rights
- the nationalistic challenges to international understanding and cooperation
Being expressive representatives of the peoples of Europe, the artists can, by their work and activities, contribute to a European civil society and a European public space in favour transparency, participation and democracy.
Yours sincerely
Jorge Bosso
President