"…The ACE, however, is convinced that the European Union has an essential role to play in preserving the characteristic variety of its cultures whilst building its unity on common values, common goals and common needs. The European Union must act as the GUARDIAN OF THE CULTURES OF EUROPE, giving them the certainty of survival, the possibility of having direct access to each other and the opportunity to voice their own opinions. …"

(Extract from the working document of the 2nd meeting of the ACE, Lisbon, 1998)

The Assembly of Cultures of Europe (ACE) is a forum for the representation of differing cultural identities and minorities. Over thirty groups including Roma, Armenians, Saami, Csangos, and also emerging minorities, have joined this project, which was initiated by Yehudi Menuhin in 1997.

1st meeting of the ACE, 1997, Yehudi Menuhin with the representative of the Saami - © IYMF

The first official meeting of the Assembly of Cultures took place on 21 November 1997 at the European Parliament. It gathered cultural representatives from all Europe as well as representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and UNESCO.


The aims of the ACE include:

•    To gather the European cultural groups and to promote dialogue amongst them for a better understanding of their identities and common or parallel problems.
•    To promote the European integration of all cultural groups, respecting their continuing diversity and specificity as autonomous groups within the protection and the listening body of the European Union.
•    To allow the cross fertilisation of the European cultural groups through mutual contacts and sharing of cultural activities.
•    To become an interlocutor between the European Organisations (EU, Council of Europe and OSCE) and the European cultural groups.
•    To defend and protect the right to be different against any form of assimilation.
•    To improve the implementation of the existing international documents and standards on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and Responsibilities.
•    To play the role of moderator in bilateral talks at the request of the interested parties.
•    To promote studies and to support cultural projects of the voiceless and poorest European cultural groups, especially those on the way to disappearance.

(Extract from the statutory document “Open Assembly of the Cultures in Europe”)


The finality of this Assembly is to give a voice to the voiceless, to all cultures of Europe, and thus to become the interlocutors between the European Union and the European cultural groups.

The first meeting of the ACE was presided by Lord Menuhin and Enrique Baron Crespo. Mr Pasqual Maragall was the reporter and was subsequently appointed "ambassador" of the Assembly of Cultures.

The Assembly of Cultures of Europe (ACE) acts as an ambassador where all the cultures of Europe will feel represented. A working group had been set up under the presidency of Lord Menuhin. It had studied the way of materialising the actions of this assembly, according to the working papers.

Members of this working group were: Lord Menuhin, Enrique Baron Crespo - European MP, Pasqual Maragall - former President of the Committee of Regions, Helena Vaz da Silva - former European MP, and Nicola Girasoli - expert in cultural minorities.

On September 26-27, 1998 representatives of the European Union, the Council of Europe, UNESCO and other official bodies gathered with ACE and the cultural minorities in Lisbon during the Universal Exhibition for the international Forum called: " European Union as union of cultures: diversity and convergence".

On 13-14 January 1999 the ACE together with the Committee of the Regions, organised, at the European Parliament, a Forum under the title: "A Europe of Cultures in a Europe of Regions". The debates during the plenary session were followed by a multicultural concert given by the cultural minorities present.



2005: Conference “Europe’s Diasporas and European Citizenship” 

Building upon the pioneering work of the Assembly of Cultures of Europe established by late Lord Menuhin, the IYMF and its partners organised a conference entitled: “Europe’s Diasporas and European Citizenship”. The conference took place in Barcelona, from 27-29 January 2005, and it produced, among others, “The Barcelona Declaration on the Diasporas of Europe”. You can find more information about the conference under the “European projects” section.

For more information on the ACE please click on the links below: 

•    Open Assembly of the Cultures in Europe

•    FIRST MEETING for an ASSEMBLY OF THE CULTURES OF EUROPE
    Brussels, European Parliament - Friday, 21 November 1997
    "How can the European Union respect and promote the diversity of its     cultures?"

•    SECOND MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE CULTURES OF EUROPE (ACE)
    Lisbon - September 26-27, 1998
    European Union as Union of Cultures:
    DIVERSITY AND CONVERGENCE: "If we forget cultures, we forget citizens"


Finally, the intention of the IYMF is to continue developing the work of the Assembly of Cultures of Europe, in collaboration with the cultural action of the European Commission and other institutional bodies.


"The European Union should declare itself to be the Guardian of Cultures and promote their vitality. The background of this inescapable commitment of the EU can be seen in the paragraph on culture of the TEU (Art. 151 & 4)"

Lord Menuhin