european cultural policy

While European countries are driven to unite themselves from an economic and a political point of view by the feeling of belonging to the same community, of sharing a common history, the same values, the same ideals and interests, it is rather paradoxical to see that the European action concerning a cultural policy is almost non-existent, i.e. minuscule.
If the cultural motive was at the origins of the creation of Europe, culture itself appears later in the treaties. It is only in 1992 that it appears in the Maastricht treaty (article 128 –then article 151 after the Amsterdam treaty) .
How to explain such a delay? The European Union was firstly an economic union. But this “ever-closer union” aims certainly at a human union (that is to say an economic, social, political, cultural union): In the preamble to the Treaty of Rome there was a reference to culture as capable of uniting people and promoting social development. The priority was given to the economy because it was certainly the easiest rapprochement to achieve. The principal aim at the beginning of the European construction was to eradicate war from this continent. In such a context culture appears to be beyond political and economic considerations.
However, culture (if it is understood as the popular culture, the daily culture) plays nowadays a major role. Indeed, we can almost speak about a “cultural industry”. So it cannot be denied that the culture has also an economic and social role.
Nevertheless, it seems difficult to develop a real European cultural policy since it is paradoxical to conciliate two major aims: firstly, promoting a European, supranational culture; secondly, protecting the national, regional, local diversity.

So are we actually able to talk about a “European cultural policy”?

Despite a hesitant approach, the Maastricht treaty has given to the European Union a juridical framework to develop a cultural policy. However, we may ask if things which are done in that domain really respond to the actual necessities of a common cultural policy.