CULTURAL HERITAGE COUNTS FOR EUROPE

CHAPTER II. CULTURAL HERITAGE HAS MULTIPLE BENEFITS FOR EUROPE TODAY

“The upsurge of interest in buildings, gardens, interiors and design issues helps to show that people value quality of life considerations alongside economic and social well-being.”
Sir Neil Cossons, on behalf of the Historic Environment Review Steering Group (5)

Heritage today can provide more than an argument for beauty and certainly more than an attraction to travellers. It should be realised as a necessary precondition of integration and a vital instrument of societal development. (6)

Our cultural heritage has, first and foremost, an important political significance for Europe today. Heritage is a visible expression of our common European culture and history, a tangible testimony of our roots without which our present would be impoverished and our future would become sterile. As such, it is an essential element of our local, regional, national and European identity. The knowledge and the understanding of the “unity in diversity” of Europe’s shared cultural heritage contribute fundamentally to the development of a sense of European citizenship and a sense of belonging, as indispensable cohesive factors in the on-going process of European integration.

Europe’s cultural heritage also provides considerable benefits for the society, environment and economy. Activities related to heritage conservation, enhancement and education should indeed be recognised and fully exploited as a contribution to the achievement of current EU policy priorities, and in particular the full implementation of the Lisbon objectives (knowledge economy and job creation), the Gothenburg agenda (sustainable development and environment protection); the promotion of social cohesion and inclusion; and development of active European citizenship and participatory democracy.

Furthermore, cultural heritage – both built and natural – contributes fundamentally to the quality of life of Europe’s citizens and to the character andbeauty of our living environment. This environmental and spatial dimension (both urban and rural) defines the specificity of cultural heritage in comparison to other fields of cultural activity. While advocating the highest possible level of cultural heritage conservation, Europa Nostra fully recognises that cultural heritage “places” (both monuments and sites) remain dynamic entities. Indeed, the continuity between the past, present and future needs to guide and inspire European, national and regional strategies, policies and action related to cultural heritage thus ensuring its sustainable development but also encouraging the necessary cultural and social evolution of those places. At the same time, strategies of urban and rural development and spatial planning, as well as modern architecture developments should respect and take fully into consideration the requirements of cultural heritage conservation.

Europa Nostra recommendations:

• In addition to its intrinsic cultural dimension and objective, safeguarding and enhancement of cultural heritage should be fully promoted as part and parcel of the Union’s wider objectives, such as the ones included in Article I-3 of the Constitutional Treaty:
• promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples (Art. I-3.1);
• work for the sustainable development of Europe (Art.I-3.3);
• promote economic, social and territorial cohesion, and solidarity among Member States (Art. I-3.3);
• promote its values and interests “in the Union’s relations with the wider world” (Art. I-3.4).
• In compliance with Article 151.4 of the existing Treaty and Article III 280.4 of the Constitutional Treaty, the EU and its Member States should also fully exploit the synergy between EU action directly related to Culture and Cultural Heritage and EU policy and action in other fields, and in particular the following:

• Promoting responsible and active European citizenship
• Education and Training
• Environment
• Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion
• Common Agricultural Policy
• Tourism
• Neighbourhood and Mediterranean Policy, and also the overall Foreign and Security Policy

(5) Introduction to the “Heritage Counts 2003” Report on the state of England’s Historic Environment; see also Heritage Counts 2004 Report; www.heritagecounts.org.uk
(6) “Heritage and the Building of Europe”, Foreword by the Editors, Rupert Graf Strachwitz and Sneska Quaedvlieg-Mihailovic, publication jointly produced by Europa Nostra and Kulturstiftung Haus Europa