During her impressive speech at the European Parliament Plenary Session in Strasbourg on 27 November, before the election of the new European Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the word ‘culture’ will be reintroduced in the portfolio title of EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel from Bulgaria. Her portfolio, that was initially entitled ‘Commissioner for Innovation and Youth‘, has been renamed as follows: ‘EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth‘.
This is a great success for us and all the cultural sector, which had heavily criticised the initial title. During her speech, Ursula von der Leyen said that “culture and education are what link our history with our future. This is what makes us unique. Our soul, our culture, our diversity, our heritage“. This announcement was met with a strong applause by members of the European Parliament.
EMCY together with 89 organisations from the culture and creative sectors signed an Open Letter (initiated by the European Music Council), that was addressed to EU leaders to increase the European Parliament’s proposed budget for Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027. Because: investing in culture is investing in our future.
