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Second Meeting of the Assembly of the Cultures of Europe |
European Union as Union of Cultures:
DIVERSITY AND CONVERGENCE
LISBON - September 26/27, 1998
"If we forget cultures, we forget citizens"
A - Guidelines for the Interpretation of Art. 1 of TEU
COMMON PROVISIONS
Article 1 (ex Article A)
By this Treaty, the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES establish among themselves a EUROPEAN UNION, hereinafter called 'the Union'.
This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen.
The Union shall be founded on the European Communities, supplemented by the policies and forms of cooperation established by this Treaty. Its task shall be to organise, in a manner demonstrating consistency and solidarity, relations between the Member States and between their peoples.
(Treaty of European Union signed in Amsterdam on October 2nd, 1997.)
B - Procedures and Membership of the ACE
1/B GUIDELINES FOR THE INTERPRETATION OF ART. 1 OF THE TEU
1. Living together while respecting differences is one of the major challenges facing countries today. Cultures and identities can be socially divisive when each seeks to reassert itself on a basis of "exclusivity". It is, therefore, all the more crucial to understand this phenomenon and to build those bridges which provide the constant inter-group relations essential to our human development. Nothing is more harmful than forming opinions about people and situations in the absence of real knowledge or direct experience. Unity nourished through diversity makes an enormous contribution to the promotion of better understanding and mutual tolerance between peoples and makes us all better equipped to guard the peace whilst enriching us and our neighbours in every way.
2. The key question concerning European identity is whether the European citizen (regional, nomadic, guest or transient) can be made aware of common (European) heritages, whilst at the same time being prone to belong, as a citizen of Europe, to one or more of the hundreds of cultures to which he is heir. This dual awareness should be a major privilege of European citizenship.
These cultural dimensions offer the most marked characteristic of Europe and the TEU of Amsterdam clearly acknowledges the recognition and importance of cultural diversity (Art. 151 & 4).
The existence of increasing convergence while respecting a plurality of cultural identities is the very prerequisite of a democratic Europe with an overall common identity - an identity which reposes above all in a freely expressed, independent and cultivated presentation of human experience.
3. European identity is the frame within which men and women of many types see themselves as Europeans. This frame encompasses the whole of Europe of Christian heritage, including Russia, and now includes a sizeable proportion of that other Judaeo-Christian faith, Islam. The renewed demands for genuine identity are partly a response to new technological, geopolitical and commercial changes, partly to the fact that Europe's identity and identities need to be clearly pronounced, legible and acknowledged by the rest of the world in the context of a global social and economic transformation.
One of the difficulties encountered in marking Europe's identity is the delimitation of its borders. In fact, geographical Europe does not coincide with its cultural, economic or political definitions. Today, when we talk about Europe, we refer sometimes to a continent and sometimes to the EU. It is not a continent and it exceeds the dimensions of the growing European Union.
In fact, the ACE refers to Europe as the humanly richest peninsulas and islands of the world, bathed in four waters - the Atlantic ocean, the Mediterranean, Baltic and North Seas - and bounded by the Urals and the mountain ranges of the Middle East, beyond which stretches the Euro-Asian continent to which the European peninsulas belong.
Cultures of Europe means, therefore, all cultures of Europe. The answers to the questions "Who are we?" and "Who do we want to become?" are simple. We know who we are and we will become Europeans as we come to know each other, our common history and heritage, and recognise how totally we depend upon each other. We must work for a common political culture through the outspoken and officially recognised representation of each and every group of all recognisable and distinctive cultures; only with the increasing inter-dependence of these cultures on the EU - and EU dependence on them - shall we recognise our inter-dependence, together with our collaborating independence European identity cannot, in any case, be constructed exclusively from the above. Europe will exist as an unquestionable political community only when the European identity permeates people's lives and daily existence. A truly European civil society is required. Civil society in this context refers to the social sphere in which cultural entities will represent themselves and all they have in common.
4. Art. 1 of the TEU requires the EU to create a closer bond and relationship between the Union and its citizens.
This can only happen through:
a. The representation of European cultures, each as the occasion demands, by a particular spokesperson;
b. The continuous exchange of thoughts and actions between them, and
c. a second legislative chamber alongside the political parliament of Europe whose members have no vested interest in keeping their posts as they are not paid, except for expenses when on a mission, and afterwards return to their own occupations.
Many citizens are withdrawing their support from the so-called "larger Europe" because they feel that the EU decision-makers are too far away and lack a deeper knowledge of each other. The increasing number of Eurosceptics is due to the fact that many citizens think that Europe is governed by the technocratic bureaucracy in Brussels. Citizens are in favour of a Europe that recognises and protects the various identities and diversities of its cultures. They are in favour of a Europe that co-operates, defends the autonomy, respects the dignity and listens to the voices of its cultures.
The role of a citizen in Europe must include a constant reassessment and balancing of the equation between his or her respective rights and responsibilities, which govern the peace and cohesion of our peninsulas.
5. In Western Europe - where the concept of citizenship evolved historically from the city to the Nation-state over-widening the circles of social inclusion - there are signs of a reversal of this process. The density of the population in large cities, combined with the increasing social inequalities experienced by the locals, immigrants and their descendants, all concentrated in areas with high levels of unemployment and poor housing conditions, is a cause of considerable anxiety in certain sectors of host societies. There are already clear signs of xenophobic behaviour leading to social and racial tensions.
The introduction of citizenship and the pursuit of a common national purpose provide one reason why nation states have remained prevalent. In this way people share a sense of continuity and memories, as well as a sense of common destiny. However, the nation state has always been a poor custodian of minority cultures and seems increasingly handicapped in fulfilling its social duties.
The memories and traditions of each group of people must continue to evolve side by side with the national identity and indeed the European identity - both the complementary identities of the smallest and weakest culture and the most encompassing one. The European identity must be more pronounced and strengthened. It is within this context that Art. 1 should be interpreted.
The notion of citizens does not derive its identity from common ethnic and cultural properties, but rather from the praxis of its citizens who actively exercise their civil rights.
An important step in defining the concept of citizenship is to define the rights and responsibilities of the citizen within the state or political community as opposed to blind patriotism and the obligation to die for a nationalist flag without question.
In Western Europe the criteria for both formal and substantive citizenship within the European Union were expanded after Maastricht and Amsterdam. Thus, citizenship of the European Union confers a further identity on people born or naturalised in any member state.
What we now need - most urgently - is the involvement of all cultures and all citizens in the various decision-making processes of the EU. The main actors of EU institutions should put across the opinions expressed by its citizens.
6. Art. 1 opens the way to a better understanding of citizen groups by EU institutions and, of course, to a proper official recognition of their specific rights and their responsibilities towards each other and to the Community, i.e. the EU.
By acting as an interlocutor between the cultural groups and the European institutions, the ACE proposes to offer cultural groups an effective platform by creating a real Assembly of European Cultures - a second chamber alongside the political parliament of nation states - a chamber whose members would be appointed regardless of personal interests - financial or political - after they have given consistent proof of their ability, intelligence, courtesy, loyalty and integrity.
The ACE would wish the EU to draw closer to the people of Europe and become aware of the real day-to-day problems of its people.
7. The ACE would be based on the principle that each cultural group has a basic right to survive. The ACE would help to define the rights and obligations of all European culture groups in relation to each other. The ACE could be an important safeguard against armed conflicts and civil wars. Conflicts based on cultural differences are possibly more destructive and ruthless than political or economic ones. In several European countries cultural groups have relatively little to say within the respective nation states and their voices often remain silent or unheard. They are often at the mercy of criminal leaders whom they follow to the slaughterhouse. To give them a seat in a European chamber would certainly improve mutual understanding between cultural groups, nation states and the EU.
The ACE is urgently needed to deal with the enormous problems of migration, which are threatening many societies. Though migration has always taken place in Europe, it has not always led to the fear and anxiety it currently arouses. This may emphasise the negative image of cultures which is now (but has not always been) characteristic of attitudes to migration. Migrations today are too often a desperate search for survival, settlement and escape from untenable but beloved "homelands". We should strive to restore the sacred, secure and familiar dwelling places.
8. The preservation of peace in Europe and the protection of human and political rights are cornerstones of the concept of the EU. However, the European heritage of fundamental values is not confined to the member countries of the EU - this heritage belongs to all European countries.
An increasing appreciation of the need to assess social, cultural, ethical, aesthetical, moral and religious values is emerging across the whole of Europe. Our common cultural heritage and the considerable cultural differences within countries have been able to survive in a determined and often painful way for centuries. The implementation of Art. 1 should substantiate the resolution of any conceivable "European Political Union" to remain forever multicultural, deliberately protecting the freedom of expression of each voice. Certainly, without exception it is as important to accept without fear or prejudice the identities of others, as it is to respect and recognise one's own. This fact constitutes Europe's only security. In addition, we live today in two distinct and often opposing cultural modes: the impersonal global one, dealing with objective realities and their expression and the private one, dealing with subjective realities and their expression.
9. Cultures are often defined by their objective aspects such as language, arts, religion and institutions. Conflicts are analysed as conflicts over those aspects. And, indeed, the actual and symbolic value of these elements should not be underestimated. However, as a result, subjective reality is expressed and new emerging groups often ignored. New ways of thinking and behaving should not be under-estimated. Newly articulated cultures have to fight against prejudice whilst they are expressing ways of thinking and living which are very important for inter-cultural interaction. There are, of course, many ways in which collective identities are constructed and maintained, but groups of people who share common values deserve the full attention of institutions and other cultural groups. In fact, collective identities are based on social realities; they exist whether a person likes it or not and often an individual has no influence on them - subjective realities are both social and personal.
A "culture" in our sense represents a plurality. It exists not only in itself but very acutely at the points of intersection with other cultures. In individuating cultures and peoples, our basic and most helpful guideline is no the idea of a pure essence, but the ability to make historical connections, to see change and resemblance.
The ACE gives serious consideration to the role of emerging cultures and invites such cultures to become members of the Assembly, to strengthen the dialogue, promote peaceful coexistence and given them platform to widen their contacts.
The main challenge for the EU is to ensure the well being of the peoples of Europe.
The path is clearly defined by Art. 1: the citizens should play a leading role in the process of reform and in the decision-making process of EU institutions. In concrete terms this means that the EU should protect people as they are, wish to be, or discover that they are.
10. European integration is difficult to categorise objectively. A number of theories and approaches have been developed to unravel the process of European integration such as functionalism (Mitrany 1965);
neo-functionalism (Haas 1965; Lindberg and Scheingeld 1970) and inter-governmentalism (Hoffman 1966;
Webb 1977). However, none of these approaches adequately captures the nature of European integration, largely because it is such a mixed process in terms of policies, institutions and effects and has never been defined or even acknowledged.
Whilst attention is often paid to the shifting supranational/international nature of the European Union, less emphasis seems to have been placed on the fact that the EU and its cultures do not conform to graphs.
Though academic studies have not been able to come up with definitive positions and concepts on European integration, most political organisations and pressure groups have taken a fairly pragmatic view of the EU and the benefits of economic and political integration.
This conceptual vagueness has been useful to minority nationalist groups, which oppose European integration.
EU stability, therefore, depends on offering minority groups a valid and satisfying alternative to nationalist ambitions, a protected, consulted, participating autonomy.
Relationships between cultural groups and European institutions are not based on competitiveness but on mutual co-operation. The growing recognition of these many genuine voices, speaking for themselves, will make it quite obvious that European integration will be a matter of reciprocity rather than false exclusion or imposed
conformity.
11. The Assembly of Cultures of Europe will promote equality of cultural groups within the Union and, for that matter, anywhere in the world.
Europe is indeed a community of diverse cultures which have been driven together by a common (often tragic) history and the determination to build a peaceful and prosperous future on the basis of certain shared values.
There may be no more important aspect of one's identity than recognition and respect of other cultural groups.
Equality means that no cultural group should have to hide or apologise for its origins, families or communities and requires that others show respect for them, and change public attitudes and arrangements so that the heritage they represent is encouraged rather than ignored.
Equality is the right to have one's "difference" (minority, ethnicity etc.) recognised and supported in the public and private sphere.
Equality is the way to promote an atmosphere of solidarity and mutual understanding. The protection of cultural diversity is based on the acceptance of the principle of equality.
Multiculturalism requires that individuals, ethnic groups, cultural groups and nation states form coherent units and that the expectations of each group be considered on the basis of the recognition of its diversity, which means that they should be listened to, not because they are big or small, but because they exist.
12. The EU lacks significant policies and defined responsibilities in the areas of culture, education and language.
Such issues remain largely the responsibility of nation states, which leads cultural groups to concentrate their attention on domestic rather than European institutions. There is a perception that the European Union does not affect cultures and languages. Europe is essentially seen as pluralistic and multilingual and minority nationalist movements have increasingly sought to harness the process of European integration to further their domestic demands and ambitions.
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.
13. The aim of the ACE is to respect cultural diversity, to protect cultural and minority groups and to encourage a well-balanced network of all European cultural relationships which would mellow the increasingly radical character of cultural conflicts, especially in the socially unstable parts of Europe. This line of thought is shared by institutions such as UNESCO, the Council of Europe and DGX of the European Assembly. The ACE, by promoting the creation of a second chamber, wishes to facilitate this process and ensure the commitment of European institutions to a heterogeneous European identity.
14. The ACE perceives a culture as a "horizontal process which carries cultural seeds, as would the wind, across all borders, producing the infinite variety of expression of our human kind" (Lord Menuhin). The ACE sees this as a broad and horizontal process, as complementary to the vertical concept of the sovereign state. By cultures, ACE means not only those with a common language - regional or nomadic - with their own traditions and way of life, but also immigrant, emigrant cultures resident in Europe, not adequately represented as such in the countries within which they dwell. For the ACE "culture" also stands for any distinguishable group sharing similar circumstances of life, for instance, those living in inner cities with their gang warfare and their paucity of cultural opportunities.
Cultures and states should be considered as partners of the EU. The common values are those established by the European Union; the diverse values are established by each of the cultures and the developing values are those which will come naturally by the cross-fertilisation of European cultures.
2/B PROCEDURES AND MEMBERSHIP OF THE ACE
"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).
Foreword
15. The Assembly of Cultures of Europe (ACE) intends to promote the representation of cultures, at present virtually voiceless in the affairs of the states and in the decision-making process of the EU. Cultures are groups of living people - not statistical expressions- and, in the essential development of democracy, they must find a space, a recognised platform where they can give their feelings, needs or criticisms expression. They should have the opportunity to be heard and to defend themselves. Political parties do not represent cultural groups but often entertain arbitrary ideas and notions - and cultural groups are often forgotten by political institutions simply because they do not have the possibility to put forward their own expectations.
16. The ACE is in no way a challenge to the European Parliament, which is a parliament of political parties, representing sovereign states. Its purpose is to allow a second chamber, composed of unrepresented cultural minorities in Europe, to complete the representation of the peoples of Europe. National political parties represent people in a totally different way than is required for the group with its particular composition. The ACE would voice the day-to-day - and changing - requirements of the different cultures of Europe in terms representing their living experience, their problems related, for instance, to immediate situations, relating to environment, education, health, or any condition impinging on their immediate existence. It would also serve to keep these diverse populations in constant touch with each other, the only way, we feel, that a European conscience can develop from their common heritage.
Membership
17. All those groups of people who share a common experience of belief, language, ethnicity, traditions and race, or any other qualifying separations and identify themselves as individuals sharing a group experience in its uniqueness, whatever that may be, can become members of the ACE.
18. To become a member of the ACE the interested cultural group should submit the form provided by the ACE.
The council of the ACE will decide whether or not to grant membership.
Spokesperson
19. A spokesperson is to be appointed by each cultural group or nominated by the council of the ACE. The council will approve the appointment after having considered the curriculum vitae and the candidate's past activities on behalf of the culture he or she will represent.
20. The spokesperson
a) should be a person who is well accepted and trusted by a large majority of the members of the cultural group;
b) should be familiar with the subject of the discussion;
c) must not be a terrorist or member of a fundamentalist religious group, or any other kind of extremist group;
d) should be a person of dialogue, capable of talking peacefully with an enemy;
e) must represent a group willing to replace nationalist aspirations with the preferable alternative of cultural autonomy and independence, both contributing to, and supporting, the EU;
f) should have no commercial, political or private interests which might prejudice his group's motives.
21. The spokesperson representing a cultural group will be welcomed as an "ambassador". At the request of the spokesperson the ACE will prepare meetings with European Union institutions and other international organisation to discuss projects and expectation which could be referred to the European parliament and court.
The ACE believes that discussions between the spokesperson and the EU institutions should be conducted in the presence of a witness, preferably from the juridical body of the EU.
22. The spokesperson, upon completion of a mission, will be judged as to whether he or she is worthy or not to take a seat in the Assembly of Cultures. (This body might meet once or twice a year). It is perfectly possible that several cultures may join in sending only one spokesperson for a given theme on which they agree. This will happen as a result of constant contact and consultation between cultures, thus simplifying procedures and reducing costs.
23. The ACE will reimburse the spokesperson for travel and hotel expenses in connection with official meetings.
Financial Resources
24. Depending on the resources of each group, the ACE would expect a contribution which would enable the ACE to finance the "ambassadorial mission" and all other outlays involved in providing members with a means of communicating with each other and organising contacts and meetings with EU representatives.
As the ACE is a democratic common undertaking uniting the cultures of Europe, it is hoped that the total annual contribution from all member cultures will cover the total yearly expenses.
Eventually, when the above-mentioned objectives have been achieved, the EU should progressively take over the principal responsibility.
Duties of the ACE
25. The ACE offers its members
a) a real platform for making themselves known to the EU and other international organisations;
b) the opportunity to create a veritable tapestry of European cultures, constantly at work together to complete, with their many diverse threads, a great work of art representing the European conscience;
c) a real hope of protection within the framework of the EU.
26. After the meeting in Lisbon the ACE will seek to establish durable contacts with the cultures of Europe and
especially with those who have become members of the ACE.
27. The ACE will keep its members informed of its activities on behalf of the cultures of Europe.
28. The ACE will take decisions concerning all members by consensus.
29. The work of the ACE in dealing with the requests of the cultures of Europe will be inspired not only be the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights but also by the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities as outlined by the Inter-Action Council, chaired by Helmut Schmidt.
30. The ACE is one of the projects promoted by the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (aisbl)
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