Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-21-Speech-3-333"
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"en.20040421.14.3-333"2
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".
Mr President, we are going to begin with what I consider to be the soul of Europe, the most positive thing in Europe, which shows our citizens that they do exist, and which gives them a forum where they can express themselves in all their diversity. I believe that the European Cities of Culture, now to be called European Capitals of Culture, have in that sense, over the years, assumed great importance in the European cultural landscape. They are a shared cultural space. They show our diversities at their best.
What is our position on the amendments proposed by the European Parliament?
The European Parliament’s Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport has preserved the purpose of the Commission’s proposal. However, it has expressed a wish to see, with effect from 2009, each Member State concerned, i.e. two per year, putting forward at least two cities as candidates for the title.
This is equivalent to a substantial amendment to the designation procedure and is therefore a change to the Commission’s proposal. That is why I cannot accept such a change from the point of view of the two-stage revision. Such an amendment actually belongs in the second phase, at which point we shall have the specific data necessary to complete the remodelling of that decision, in other words it will come later. In addition, the Commission feels obliged to reject Amendment No 2 by Parliament’s committee and, as a result, Amendments Nos 3, 4 and 5 as well, since they are the result of Amendment No 2.
On the other hand, Amendment No 1, which is concerned with adjusting the budget in the light of the fact that there will be at least two ‘Capitals’ per year, is acceptable.
In fact we shall have to take into account this doubling of the number of cities involved when we come to evaluate any proposal for a programme to carry on from Culture 2000 with effect from 2007 onwards. Provision has, in fact, been made for funding in the context of that programme and not by virtue of the 1999 decision.
Nor is the Commission able to accept Amendments Nos 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 tabled on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. These amendments would also make very radical changes to the designation procedure, a debate which will have to take place later.
There, ladies and gentlemen, you have what seems to me today to be a position that makes sense. I know that it was not easy to reach, because we would all like something better, including your Commissioner. In politics, however, one must be realistic, and if we want to make progress sometimes we have to move forward in small steps in order, finally, to achieve our objective.
Of course, the formula has developed over time: the scheme was launched in 1985 on the initiative of Melina Mercouri, and cities were originally designated by means of an inter-governmental process. We have come a long way since then, and the event has become a Community action following the 1999 decision.
The process is still developing, and it will go on developing. What we shall be looking at and deciding on today will be one stage in that development. Why will it be only one stage? It will be one stage because we are on the eve of a historic event which will change the destiny of the European Union. I am talking, of course, about enlargement, which ought to be taken into account when we are considering European Capitals of Culture, hence the Commission proposal which we are debating today.
The purpose of this proposal is to allow the rapid integration of the new Member States into the ‘European Capital of Culture’ initiative. That does not mean that we do not have to think quickly about other changes which might prove necessary. Moreover, we are all in agreement on the fact that radical changes will have to be made to the current decision, and in any case we are already working on that. A study is in progress involving the European Capitals of Culture for the years 1995 to 2004. The results of that study, which will become known in the second half of 2004, will form the basis of our reflections and later, I presume, of the action we take to develop new rules.
However, today we cannot make the new Member States wait any longer. They must be able to participate, like the others, in this action, which is so much appreciated. We must therefore give them the welcome that is their due. They have already made great efforts in order to obtain entry into the present Union. They cannot be kept out of the ‘European Capital of Culture’ event. The integration of the new Member States is already a priority, and it needs to be done very quickly. That is why the Commission wishes to separate the stage involving the integration of the new Member States from the debate on the need to remodel the whole procedure.
The Commission therefore proposes, at this stage, simply to add the new Member States, by 2009, to the list drawn up by the decision, alongside the current Member States already designated, in alphabetical order. That order had already been decided, moreover, by a joint agreement between the Council and Parliament in 1999, and it is on that basis that the cities in question are currently preparing for the years to come.
Thus from 2009 onwards, two capitals will be designated each year, one for the current Member States and a second one for the new Member States.
I can well understand Parliament’s desire to see the procedure improved. However, the way we are proceeding now is the only one which enables us to put the new Member States on an equal footing with the current Member States as far as the ‘European Capital of Culture’ scheme is concerned. We need to be aware that, if we omit this stage, and start straight away on a remodelling of the procedure, the new Member States will not be able to participate in the scheme until, at best, 2010 or 2011, or perhaps 2012, because it takes four years to prepare for the event, and the designations for 2008 will be made this year.
Moreover, it will be for the new Parliament to decide on how to reform the procedure, because that procedure will in future involve twenty-five Member States."@en1
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