Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-14-Speech-4-027"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050414.4.4-027"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, it was on 16 November 2004 that the Council gave the Commission a mandate to negotiate the UNESCO convention on the protection of the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions. This House has also expressed its view of this convention by voting to adopt the own-initiative report that I produced on the subject.
As Mrs Hieronymi has just said, negotiations are in progress in preparation for UNESCO’s general conference, which is to be held this October. All the items on the agenda must be worked through and completed by the end of May. It is for that reason that this House needs to make its position known in order to be able to influence them.
What does this mean? It means that every state is to have the right to retain, introduce and develop policies and regulations to protect and promote cultural diversity and media pluralism. This is not to be made subject to other international agreements and under no circumstances whatever to the WTO agreements. The convention must provide for a simple, unitary and binding mechanism for the resolution of disputes, enabling case law on cultural diversity to be developed within international law.
Achievement of these objectives requires that the Commission should take up an explicit position and provide for the best possible coordination among the 25 Member States. At the time of the first meetings of experts from the various states last September in Paris, the EU was not yet speaking with one voice. Those in favour included France, Finland was among the neutrals and the British, Danish and Dutch were among the opposition.
Now that the Commission can speak only through the Luxembourg Presidency, we have a new situation, the like of which we have not seen before, and the impression is given that the EU is not represented. This prompts me to reiterate my call for the representatives to carefully reconsider their strategic approach in order to avoid disunity and uncertainty.
What is to be noted on the positive side is that the Commission has opposed the subordination of the UNESCO convention to the WTO’s rules. If the convention is to be effective, we need an internally coherent and binding text. I do believe that we must certainly bring the next round of negotiations to a conclusion before – as has already been mentioned – the WTO negotiation round is completed. The USA has already managed, to some extent, to destabilise Canada, a country that has always played a leading role in this initiative, while also managing to find new allies in the shape of New Zealand, India and Australia.
Culture must not be made subordinate to economic considerations; it is a market in its own right, needing its own rules if it is to retain and develop its diversity. This is something for which we are all responsible."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples