Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-09-07-Speech-4-034"
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"en.20060907.5.4-034"2
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".
Mr President, I wish to begin by expressing my gratitude and that of my colleague, Mr Figel', to the rapporteur and the Committee on Culture and Education for their constructive efforts in producing this excellent report. This report highlights concerns over the importance attached to cultural heritage. They are concerns which the Commission fully shares.
Much remains to be done in this area. However, the Commission’s involvement has already been demonstrated both through the present Culture 2000 Programme and through other European programmes and financial instruments. Several points raised in the report have already been taken into account by the Commission. However, it is a very helpful report, which gives us the opportunity to stress once more the need to use all the existing possibilities to protect natural and architectural heritage.
Within the framework of the Treaty, the Commission encourages Member States to use all the opportunities offered by European financial instruments – the structural funds, for example – for investment in cultural heritage projects. Such investments are clearly important means for the creation of new employment opportunities and for economic growth. They therefore contribute to regional development and regeneration.
In this respect, the European Commission, and the services of my colleague Mr Figel' in particular, are monitoring all European programmes and ensuring that the financial instruments incorporate cultural aspects into their objectives. As a result, over the last few years, we have witnessed a marked improvement. I am very pleased at this development and could give you examples of Member States, such as Greece or Portugal, that have grasped the opportunities offered by Community support frameworks and have introduced operational programmes for cultural heritage.
The Commission also encourages cooperation between Member States in the field of culture and cultural heritage through the Culture 2000 Programme. In the near future, these efforts will continue through the newly proposed Culture Programme 2007-2013.
Thanks to the sound cooperation between the three institutions – and I should like to take this opportunity to thank, again on behalf of Mr Figel', the rapporteur, Mr Graça Moura – this new programme for 2007-2013 will hopefully be adopted before the end of the year. In this context, partnerships such as those proposed in the report could be considered for funding in the near future.
As the report also recognises, the European Commission is very active in its efforts to increase awareness of the importance of cultural heritage through actions such as the European Prize for Cultural Heritage and the joint action undertaken with the Council of Europe on European Heritage Days. In the future, we could consider ways of enlarging the scope and having the European Parliament’s concerns better reflected in these actions.
In conclusion, I would stress that this report is being discussed at precisely the right time. We are at a juncture when our new culture programme is about to be adopted, when the Commission is reflecting on its actions for the coming years and when many points are up for discussion. This report will certainly be of major interest in that context."@en1
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