Cultural diversity and the European Year of Volunteering

During its period of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Hungary wishes to support the protection of cultural diversity. Hungary sees active citizenship, the encouragement of civil organizations and volunteering as the key element of this. The European Year of Volunteering will commence on the same day as the Hungarian Presidency: on 1^st January 2011. Thus Hungary will pay special attention to those, who volunteer to make an effort and improve the welfare of their communities. There are going to be numerous programs and grants in cooperation with the European Commission available for those who share in the spirit of activity and self-reliance. The Hungarian Presidency wishes to call the attention of Member States to the fact that cultural diversity could also contribute to the implementation of the Europe 2020 growth strategy.

BACKGROUND

Europe derives one of its most important strengths from cultural diversity; therefore supporting it is continuously on the agenda of European politics. The Culture Program regularly initiated by the European Commission serves this purpose and the year 2008 was also chosen the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue for the same reason.  

The Hungarian Presidency will be attentive to preserving common European values as well as the different cultural heritage represented by the Member States. Special support will be given in this to active citizens who help improve their own communities, with special attention directed towards civil organizations and volunteering.

THE SIX MONTHS OF THE HUNGARIAN PRESIDENCY

With respect to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy the objective of the Hungarian Presidency will be to discover the areas and instruments, where culture could contribute to meeting European economic and growth targets. In this sense, the role played by cultural and creative industries in social development and the strengthening of cohesion is especially important, just as the synergy effect of linking knowledge-based society, innovation and culture. To this end an expert-level conference will be organized in February 2011 and the topic will also be on the agenda of Ministers of Culture at their informal meeting in March. The Hungarian Presidency will do everything it can to have the Member States formulate culture-based development goals and establish the funds that will be made available to the cultural and creative sectors.

The EU Work Plan for Culture 2011-2014 of the Council could play an important role in this. Implementation of this work plan provides an opportunity to discuss issues related to cultural and linguistic diversity at high-level meetings. A good example will be the joint informal meeting of senior officials of Ministries of Culture and senior officials responsible for culture in Ministries of Foreign Affairs. The first occasion for this will be during the term of the Hungarian Presidency in May 2011.  

Hungary wishes to promote a research to define the factors that impede the mobility of artists and other cultural experts. Budapest would like to establish an information system as well, which supports their mobility. On the issue of museum art collections, the main event of the Presidency will be the series of training and presentation events organized by the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts in the framework of the project called Collections Mobility 2.0. As part of the project, also a practical manual should be elaborated.

The debate on the establishment of a European Heritage Label could be concluded by the Hungarian Presidency with the approval of a political agreement, with which the Presidency wishes to promote the cooperation of network of label winner and candidate sites. To this end a European Heritage Forum will be organized (the second after the French Presidency of 2008.) in June 2011.

The Council of the European Union has declared 2011, the European Year of Volunteering as a mean of promoting active citizenship. The Council has been striving for long to further development of the European Union by designating thematic years to call the attention to certain cultural, societal or social problems. In this spirit 2008 was the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, 2009 was declared the Year of Creativity and Innovation, whereas 2010 was the Year of the Struggle against Poverty and Social Exclusion. One of the main objectives of the Year of Volunteering is to highlight that volunteering is one of the efficient means of responsible citizens’ action. The Hungarian Presidency is confident that volunteer activity will gain better recognition from the society as a result of this European Year of Volunteering.

In cooperation with the European Commission, the Hungarian Presidency has created a website at www.onkentesseg2011.hu, where civil society organizations and those involved in volunteering are given an opportunity to join the European Year, register their events and programs organized in the spirit of volunteering. The European Commission Representation in Hungary will also expand its activities in the spirit of the European Year. It will offer space and infrastructure at its new location, in the Millenáris in Budapest to all those organizations, which wish to support the European community with their activities.

The Hungarian Presidency intends to support active citizens with financial resources (a total of 800 thousand Euros at 2010 early-December rates). The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will allocate a total of EUR 476.000 for grants aimed at supporting civil organizations and another HUF 22 million has been appropriated specially for the conference planned for April, which aims to make visible the advantages of volunteer and civilian work to the business and the political sphere. Another EUR 81.000 is to be allocated for the Week of Volunteering program to be organized in early June. The Commission has set aside EUR 180 thousand for the grants and the equivalent of HUF 30 million in Euros for other events.

OBJECTIVES

The Hungarian Presidency wishes to continue the legislative work on the European Heritage Label that wishes to highlight the common European cultural heritage and values, which at the same time show diversity in each Member State and will monitor the implementation of the Council’s 2011-2014 Work Plan for Culture. The Presidency wishes to support active citizenship through volunteers and civil organizations.  The Presidency will cooperate closely with the European Commission in preparing and implementing the numerous grant applications and projects that will accompany the European Year of Volunteering.