CULTURAL HERITAGE COUNTS FOR EUROPE

CHAPTER III. A STRUCTURED DIALOGUE WITH CIVIL SOCIETY AS AN ASSET

 “The Institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society”
Article I - 47.2 of the Constitutional Treaty

Civil society organisations should be recognised as important partners for the definition and implementation of public strategies and policies, both at national and at European level, which are directly or indirectly related to heritage. They have a special responsibility for raising the awareness of the significance of cultural heritage and for stimulating grass-root initiatives. Civil society organisations also have a task to monitor policy and economic developments and, whenever appropriate, raise their voice against developments detrimental to cultural heritage.

EUROPA NOSTRA recommendations:

• the EU Institutions should set up an appropriate consultative mechanism for a regular dialogue with the organised civil society active in the field of cultural heritage. This could take the form of a “European Heritage Forum”, similar to other existing fora such as the European Environmental Forum, the European Tourism Forum or the European Forum on Architectural Policy (7). Europa Nostra is prepared to be the facilitator for such an institutionalised dialogue between the EU Institutions and the organised civil society active at European, national, regional and local levels.

• the EU Institutions should consider to give the appropriate form of endorsement to the “Declaration on the role of voluntary organisations in the field of heritage” which was adopted by the Vth European Conference of Ministers in charge of Cultural Heritage (Portoroz, 2001) (for example, in the form of a Resolution by the Council of Ministers).

• in the context of the on-going enlargement process, special efforts should be invested in the capacity building of heritage NGOs in the wider region of Central and Eastern Europe through dissemination of the “power of example” and best practises, twinning projects, exchanges of ideas and experiences and training on specific issues.

In the broader field of culture, Europa Nostra welcomes the emerging alliance between the European networks and organisations active in the various fields of culture and recognises the valuable role played in this context by the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage and the European Cultural Foundation. Europa Nostra has, inter alia, taken part, as the representative platform of NGOs active in the field of cultural heritage, in the Stakeholders Forum of the Laboratory of European Cultural Co-operation (LAB). Europa Nostra also welcomes the recent establishment of an informal EU Civil Society Contact Group which encourages the dialogue between the representatives of European platforms of organised civil society active in various sectors covered by EU policy and action, including culture and environment.

(7) The next meeting of the bi-annual European Forum on Architectural Policy will be held on 27 and 28 June 2005 during the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU, when a Seminar on architectural quality will be organised in conjunction with the Informal meeting of the Council of Ministers in charge of Culture.