A background briefing for the Council of The European Union’s Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council meeting on 22-23 May has noted that the Council is due to adopt conclusions on the need to bring cultural heritage to the fore across policies in the EU.
The briefing states that the objective of the conclusions is to raise the awareness of all interested parties of the mutual benefits of mainstreaming cultural heritage into other EU policies. Member states and the Commission are invited to bring cultural heritage to the fore in relevant EU policies, for instance by including heritage as their strategic objective when preparing and implementing other EU policies.
The Council adopted conclusions dealing specifically with cultural heritage in 2014, and the European Council, at its December 2017 meeting, explicitly recognised the key role that culture and cultural heritage plays in building inclusive and cohesive societies, and in sustaining Europe’s competitiveness. 2018 is the European Year of Cultural Heritage.