Achterliggende doelen van EU-Rusland cultuurtop (en)

The first meeting of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council (PPC) on Culture will be held in Lisbon today under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU. At the meeting, the EU - represented by the Portuguese Minister of Culture Isabel Pires de Lima ,Commissioner Ján Figel i responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Youth and by the Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti of the incoming Slovenian Presidency - and the Russian Federation - represented by the Minister of Culture Alexander Sokolov - will adopt a Joint Statement outlining the future priorities for cultural cooperation between the two partners. This statement will be an important contribution to the EU-Russia summit which takes place in Mafra on 26 October.

The participants will discuss the implementation of the EU-Russia Road Map on the Common Space of Research and Education, including Culture. On this basis, the EU and Russia will stress their commitment to intensify cultural cooperation through a future Culture Action Plan and attain practical goals on a wide range of issues leading to an increase of cultural activities of EU member states in Russia and Russian activities in the EU member states. The Culture Action Plan will serve as a tool to foster the regular exchange of information and views on issues that may have an impact on cultural and audiovisual cooperation and to hold technical consultations when necessary.

Background Information

The Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with Russia of 1997 established an institutional framework for regular consultations between the European Union and Russia, including EU-Russia Summits at Head of State level.

At Ministerial level is the Permanent Partnership Council (PPC), established to allow Ministers to meet as often as necessary and in a variety of formats to discuss specific issues. PPCs have so far been held in the format of Foreign Ministers, Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, Energy Ministers, Transport Ministers and Environment Ministers. This is the first time that such an event takes places in the field of culture.

It is part of the 4 th Common Space with Russia and the Culture Road-Map, whose objectives are:

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  to promote a structured approach to cultural cooperation between the enlarged EU and Russia, to foster the creativity and mobility of artists, public access to culture, the dissemination of art and culture, inter-cultural dialogue and knowledge of the history and cultural heritage of the peoples of Europe.
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  to strengthen and enhance the European identity on the basis of common values, including freedom of expression, democratic functioning of the media, respect for human rights including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, and promotion of cultural and linguistic diversity as a basis for vitality of civil society in Europe without dividing lines.
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  to develop cooperation between the cultural industries of the EU and Russia in order to increase both their cultural and economic impact.

The process of institutionalised cultural cooperation was initiated in the aftermath of the Kajaani Conference held under Finnish Presidency on 18-19 September 2006, aimed at paving the way for the implementation of the 4th Common Space with Russia and the Culture Road-Map on culture contained therein.

The Joint Statement adopted during the first meeting of the first Permanent Partnership Council (PPC) on culture, taking place in Lisbon under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, will be a first concrete step in this cooperation.

In the future a comprehensive cooperation Action Plan will detail the concrete cooperation actions the EU and Russia intend to undertake in the field of culture.