Erna Hennicot-Schoepges

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…