After the enlargement of the European Union to now 25 member states, budget
negotiations over the next multiannual Financial Framework are inevitably going
to become more and more complicated. The reasons for this lie not only in the
fact that, with ten new member states, the heterogeneity of the European Union
has dramatically increased in terms of economic conditions and per capita
income, but also in the differing political directions, cultural values and
orientations. Strangely enough to consider that the costs of keeping the
European Parliament running smoothly for three years exceed the total budget of
the European Cultural Program – which spans six years. Even more peculiarly,
agricultural subsidies still consume almost half of the total European budget,
while expenditures for culture amount to no more than .5% of it. Europe can not
and must not continue to be nothing more than a consumer’s paradise. If it is to
strike even the most rudimentary roots, the blossom of a culturally and
ethically coherent European Union must be tended to. Lire plus…
Erna Hennicot-Schoepges
