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       commissioned by EFAH and IG Kultur Österreich;  supported by BKA, II/9
  Preface
                   "On nous parle de l'avenir de l'Europe, et de la nécessité 
                    d'accorder les banques, les assurances,  les marchés 
                    intérieurs, les entreprises, les polices, consensus, 
                    consensus, consensus, mais le devenir des gens?"  
                    (Gilles Deleuze) 
                  The European convention seeks to set up a feasible future 
                    constitution of a European Union, which will succeed in becoming 
                    both deepened and enlarged. This constitutional process is 
                    to be seen as a late condensation making the existing treaties 
                    and their interconnections transparent, controllable and criticisable, 
                    rather than a centralisation that minimizes the rights of 
                    the people living in Europe. Even more, this occasion must 
                    have wider consequences beyond a consensus of the leaders 
                    and the upcoming ratification of new constitution documents. 
                    It needs to become a constituting process, provoke 
                    ongoing conflictual debates on the future of Europe, and result 
                    in a formative period of European public spheres, in which 
                    the people living in Europe can engage.  
                     
                    This paper aims to intensify the debate by raising awareness 
                    about the specific functions of the contemporary cultural 
                    field, its actors and institutions in the future development 
                    of Europe, along with the convention, but also beyond. The 
                    discussion of an issue like this has to start with the preconditions, 
                    i.e. the legal framework and the current state of approaches 
                    to cultural policies at EU level. Therefore, this paper will 
                    first attempt to re-evaluate the current situation regarding 
                    cultural policies at EU level by looking at the historical 
                    development, re-reading and discussing the existing documents, 
                    and drawing attention to paragraphs that have not yet been 
                    implemented. 
                  This paper aims to anticipate concepts that overcome the 
                    narrow discourses of cultural policy, which often seem to 
                    concentrate either on their primary counterpart, the market, 
                    or simply on themselves. As it is, cultural policy in Europe 
                    revolves around outdated notions with few links to contemporary 
                    discursive and theoretical considerations. The basis of cultural 
                    policy today seems to consist mainly of rumours from the Brussels 
                    corridors and gossip spread on the flights to and from Brussels. 
                    In order to overcome this vicious circle of traditional cultural 
                    policy talk and its hollow phraseology, to interconnect contemporary 
                    theories with contemporary cultural policies, in the second 
                    part of the paper we propose a new set of terms and concepts 
                    to be deployed in these discourses: Thus we focus on more 
                    general and crucial concepts, which serve as a basis for a 
                    new understanding of cultural policies. These include politics 
                    of difference, temporary autonomy in the cultural field, new 
                    modes of subjectification in the cultural field, transversality, 
                    participation and the creation of critical public spheres. 
                  Finally, in the third part of this paper, we propose a preliminary 
                    list of adequate measures to be taken in order to strengthen 
                    the contemporary cultural field and to support the implementation 
                    of new cultural policies within the legal framework of the 
                    European Union. The intention of this provisional list is 
                    to provoke a continuing debate on the concrete measures and 
                    programmes, which is able to transcend the commonplaces of 
                    cultural policies. We know that this list is just a beginning. 
                    Nevertheless we feel it is necessary to design a model - fragmentary 
                    as it may be - in order to develop a broad range of concrete 
                    proposals from the abstract concepts. Our aim is to continue 
                    the work on this linkage and to intervene in the discourse 
                    throughout the upcoming months and years from the perspective 
                    of the eipcp as well as with the help of EFAH and the networks, 
                    operators and actors of the cultural field in Europe. 
                  As the three parts of this paper represent three levels of 
                    policies/politics (from the analytical to the conceptual to 
                    the pragmatic), they necessarily make use of different styles 
                    and do not hide the discursive gaps and ruptures between the 
                    three levels. As these differences are implicitly significant 
                    for the characteristics of the respective discourses, one 
                    of the main aims and the underlying conception of the eipcp 
                    is to explore the lines that traverse the different 
                    levels of theories, practices and policies. 
                  In this paper we did not start from scratch. Instead, we 
                    drew upon the ideas, thoughts, questions and proposals developed 
                    in numerous documents, discussions papers, debates etc. by 
                    many individuals and organisations in the cultural and academic 
                    fields. Some of these documents are listed in the annex; we 
                    apologize for not having been able to trace all the lines 
                    of authorship in recent years and to credit all those who 
                    have contributed to the process of conceptualising European 
                    cultural policies. 
                  In this paper we take a critical stance on nationalist and 
                    localist views that have scrupulously prevented every mention 
                    of European cultural policies, based on a constrained understanding 
                    of the 'principle of subsidiarity'. In some way, this is turned 
                    upside down here. We will not take into consideration other 
                    levels of cultural policies, but will exclusively focus on 
                    possible scenarios for European cultural policies and 
                    the argument for compelling reasons to do so. However, not 
                    specifically discussing the question of the division of responsibilities 
                    and competencies among the local, regional, national and European 
                    levels does not mean abandoning the principle of a division 
                    of competencies. Instead, we urge that the concept of subsidiarity 
                    should not be used as an excuse for avoiding a critical discussion 
                    and concrete action concerning the responsibilities and opportunities 
                    of the EU. For this reason, the paper focuses on promoting 
                    diversity and the politics of difference by implementing concrete 
                    European cultural policies. 
                   
                  Special Thanks  
                    to Frédérique Chabaud and Dragan Klaic (EFAH), 
                    Raimund Minichbauer and Stefan Nowotny (eipcp) for their advice and support
                     Editing: Aileen Derieg 
 
 I. Reconstructing the Preconditions for EU Cultural Policies
                    Culture in the EU: An Ambiguous Condition 
                  Practically speaking, policies and policy action regarding 
                    culture as currently emerging at EU level seem to be caught 
                    up in a condition of ambiguity, in a state informed by inconsistency 
                    between grand ambitions on the one hand and a lack of political 
                    pouvoir on the other, between financial neglect, disinterest 
                    and its instrumentalisation as an ideological battlefield. 
                    Nevertheless, international and transnational cultural activities 
                    in Europe and beyond have significantly increased, and there 
                    is an obvious need to translate the functions that culture 
                    should and could take into concrete action in response to 
                    current political and social developments within the EU as 
                    well as in a global context. 
                    This difficult situation is largely due to the fact that culture 
                    is bound to a relatively limited legal framework at EU level 
                    and a more than modest budget is allocated to it. The funds 
                    available cover neither the prospects and needs of the cultural 
                    sector (e.g. networking, mobility, transversal and interdisciplinary 
                    activity, as well as securing social standards for cultural 
                    actors, etc.) nor the prestigious programmes developed by 
                    policy makers, such as the various framework programmes for 
                    culture. As regards the legal basis, culture is supported 
                    mainly by one article. In the 10 years since it was included 
                    in the treaties establishing the European Community, however, 
                    this article has not produced the intended effects. Its full 
                    implementation could not be achieved. 
                    Because it is of minor importance and yet ideologically highly 
                    charged at the same time, culture is considered a controversial 
                    issue - especially when it comes to discussing the division 
                    of competencies between the EU and its member states. In the 
                    context of the debate in the European convention and attempts 
                    to overcome conflicts of interest and power between the member 
                    states, this means that culture is clearly not one of the 
                    top priorities on the agenda. There is too much concern that 
                    culture is one of the points that cannot be negotiated without 
                    risking the eruption of new rifts between different member 
                    states, which will not be easy to bridge.  
                    Tied to a too narrow interpretation of the principle of subsidiarity, 
                    policies and actions concerning culture in the EU remain restricted 
                    to "harmless areas" such as cooperation and exchange. 
                    Yet, a look at the actual reality of concrete action, both 
                    at the levels of the various actors in the cultural field 
                    and the so-called cultural or creative industries and the 
                    many aspects of the debate within the EU institutions, suggests 
                    that these boundaries have already been transgressed. New 
                    and wider scopes for action and for reflection have already 
                    been entered and explored - for better and for worse. 
                   
                    Arguing for European Cultural Policies 
                  While the programmes and budget lines for culture meet with 
                    tremendous response, interest and engagement from a sector 
                    that has long been active at a transnational and transdisciplinary 
                    level within the EU as well as beyond its borders, and while 
                    the debate about culture in the European context and in relation 
                    to other policies and issues has long reached a stage of concrete 
                    and constructive proposals, the mention of "European 
                    cultural policies" still remains the unspeakable, a taboo. 
                     
                    In this paper, we intend to argue for the further development 
                    of European cultural policies mainly on the grounds of two 
                    points. First, a new momentum for European cultural policies 
                    would represent the logical consequence of a development that 
                    can be traced throughout the history of the EU, from its very 
                    beginnings up to the inclusion of Article 151 in the Treaties 
                    establishing the European Community and further. Secondly, 
                    what we now see in the EU, is that there already ARE such 
                    policies, even if they cannot be considered adequate to meet 
                    the demands and challenges of the changing European landscape 
                    and a "global" context. This applies, for instance, 
                    to the existing transnational activities of many cultural 
                    initiatives, networks, artists and intellectuals, etc. far 
                    beyond the cultural activities of the foreign offices of their 
                    countries and with support from national and international 
                    agencies as well as the EU - despite obstacles and a lack 
                    of funds. In addition, culture has meanwhile clearly assumed 
                    the position of a relevant factor with respect to employment, 
                    urban and structural development, various sectors of production 
                    and services, etc. However, - and this applies particularly 
                    to the audiovisual sector and what is generally referred to 
                    as the 'cultural industries' - there is a tendency to take 
                    a one-sided view, focusing mainly on the commercial aspects 
                    of culture. 
                    "European cultural policies" will need to formulate 
                    a strong response and concrete action against these developments 
                    towards a one-dimensional, neoliberal understanding of culture 
                    driven by success and profit, which only employs the argument 
                    for the "preservation and protection of the cultural 
                    diversity" for its protectionist agenda. Appropriate 
                    legal, financial and political preconditions will have to 
                    be provided in order to allow the cultural field to assume 
                    its role as part of a democratic development of the EU, enabling 
                    the creation of critical public spheres. This involves a progressive 
                    approach to (cultural) diversity, difference and conflict 
                    and actively dealing with issues of social change, the so-called 
                    knowledge society, education, migration, globalisation, etc. 
                    In short, this means taking the transversal quality of culture 
                    into consideration. This is not meant to offer legitimation 
                    and justification for the support of culture, but to foster 
                    the political dimension of the cultural field in an 
                    open and democratic Europe, enabling the permeability of its 
                    boundaries and the transgression of distinctive fields. 
                  
                     
                    A Historical View on a Continuous Development 
                  From the Very Beginnings to the Inclusion of Culture in 
                    the Treaties 
                  With the Maastricht Treaty, adopted by the European Council 
                    in December 1991, the EU formally added an article on culture 
                    to the Treaties for the first time. Until then, culture had 
                    not been recognised as a European competency, but a gradual 
                    development had led to this legislative regulation for multilateral 
                    cultural cooperation. This development can be traced throughout 
                    the history of the EU along the lines of its transition from 
                    an economic to a political union, and it is especially linked 
                    to the aspect of European "integration". Another 
                    aspect relating to culture, although more economically motivated, 
                    was the establishment of policies regarding the matter of 
                    "cultural goods and services" in the common market. 
                    In both aspects, debates and arguments have been interconnected 
                    with the idea of promoting and safeguarding "cultural 
                    diversity" in the EU, and they were supported by a variety 
                    of conventions, declarations and other instruments. 
                    Although there were no specific legal regulations, cultural 
                    aspects were already taken into account at a relatively early 
                    stage. In the Treaties of Brussels 1948 and Paris 1954 (Western 
                    European Union), cultural cooperation was only "welcomed", 
                    but as early as 1949, the Council of Europe was established 
                    with the objective of fostering democracy, human rights and 
                    cultural cooperation. It was the first European institution 
                    to undertake an active commitment to develop cultural cooperation. 
                     
                    Emphasizing the international context of the promotion of 
                    cultural cooperation and preceded by the International Institute 
                    of Intellectual Co-operation (IICI), UNESCO was established 
                    in 1945 in London with the aim "to contribute to peace 
                    and security by promoting collaboration among nations through 
                    education, science and culture". The Universal Declaration 
                    of Human Rights in 1948 asserted the right to participate 
                    in cultural life as being among those conditions that are 
                    "necessary for human survival, integrity and human dignity", 
                    putting culture into a much wider political context. 
                    In 1954 the European Cultural Convention was promoted, based 
                    on which the Council of Europe gradually took over the responsibilities 
                    of the WEU's Cultural Affairs Commission. In 1957 the Treaty 
                    of Rome stipulated "culture as exception", meaning 
                    the exception to the free circulation of goods for "national 
                    treasures possessing artistic, historic and archaeological 
                    value". 
                    The development from the European Economic Community to a 
                    political union also involved more culture: Already in 1961, 
                    the Fouchet Plan defined scientific and cultural cooperation 
                    as one of the objectives of the Union, and between the late 
                    60s and early 70s, culture was also related to social or regional 
                    issues as new areas within the Community's framework. Especially 
                    from 1977 onwards, the European Commission stimulated a debate 
                    on culture through a number of "communications" 
                    (1977 "Community action in the cultural sector", 
                    1982 "Stronger Community action in the cultural sector", 
                    1987 "A fresh boost for culture in the European community"). 
                    The 3rd communication included a chapter on cultural cooperation, 
                    which became the source of Article 128 of the Treaty of Maastricht 
                    (now Article 151 of the Treaty of Amsterdam).  
                    During the 1980s, cultural aspects generally experienced a 
                    boost in the EU, e.g. in relation to the European Community's 
                    Official Declaration, signed 1983 in Stuttgart, which encouraged 
                    the member states to foster joint activities in cultural promotion, 
                    and first funding strategies were developed. This was often 
                    due to the efforts of the European Parliament. The Council 
                    passed several resolutions inaugurating various cultural actions, 
                    from the European cultural city event (1985) to transnational 
                    cultural itineraries (1986), some of which can be seen as 
                    first pilot experiments and forerunners for the programmes 
                    to be launched later by the Commission. The meetings of the 
                    ministers for culture were institutionalised in 1987, the 
                    Cultural 
                    Affairs Committee was set up in 1988. 
                  Growing dynamics in community programmes 
                  The Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Community 
                    included a special article dedicated to culture (then Article 
                    128, now Article 151 of the Treaty of Amsterdam). This formally 
                    assigned responsibility for culture to the EU for the first 
                    time. In conjunction with this, the Commission presented a 
                    Communication on "New Prospects for Community Cultural 
                    Action" in 1992. Although the funding schemes were always 
                    limited and the new programmes for culture came only about 
                    after lengthy negotiations, a further dynamisation of cultural 
                    action took place. 
                    A new comminication in 1994 was accompanied by the proposals 
                    for the programmes "Kaleidoscope 2000" (artistic 
                    and cultural projects of European dimension) and "Ariane" 
                    (books and reading), and one year later the Commission presented 
                    a proposal on a cultural heritage programme. In 1996, the 
                    "First Report on the Consideration of Cultural Aspects 
                    in European Community Action" was published, assessing 
                    the application of Article 151. The programme 'Kaleidoscope' 
                    was established in the same year, the programmes 'Ariane' 
                    and 'Raphael' (cultural heritage) a year later, in 1997.  
                    In 1998 the Commission presented a single programme of finance 
                    and programming in support of cultural cooperation ("Culture 
                    2000") and organised the first "European Union Cultural 
                    Forum" in order to review EC action in the field of culture 
                    since 1993. While the Kaleidoscope and Ariadne programmes 
                    were extended, the programme "Connect" was set up 
                    in 1999 to promote joint education and culture programmes. 
                    It successfully made use of the transversal potential of culture. 
                     
                    In 2000 Parliament and Council approved the programme "Culture 
                    2000" with a budget of 167 million Euro and set to 
                    last 5 years, 2000-2004. The programme has meanwhile been 
                    extended until 2006, and discussions on a successor programme 
                    are underway. 
                  A Continuous Development at Different Levels 
                  This chronological outline of a continuous development of 
                    EC action in the field of culture, which was expanded and 
                    intensified from the 1970s onwards and especially during the 
                    1980s and 1990s, clearly shows that none of the cultural actions 
                    actually started in 1993. There were a variety of cultural 
                    initiatives and activities in different fields before the 
                    Maastricht Treaty went into effect. 
                    Evidence of a continuation of this trend is found, for example, 
                    in support for the European content industry (e.g. MEDIA), 
                    the 1989 Directive "Television Without Frontiers", 
                    vocational cultural training, education (Leonardo, Socrates), 
                    culture in regional policies, research and technological development 
                    applied to the cultural sector, etc.  
                    One of the most significant examples to be mentioned is the 
                    financing of cultural projects through the Structural Funds 
                    since 1989, making up the greatest portion of EU funding for 
                    culture. The main objective of the four programmes INTERREG, 
                    LEADER, EQUAL and URBAN, which are among the mechanisms to 
                    distribute the Structural Funds and from which the cultural 
                    field has also benefited considerably, is to "redress 
                    regional imbalances in the Community" and to "promote 
                    stable and sustainable development". The cultural field 
                    is thus acknowledged as a major factor in pursuing these aims, 
                    namely in the areas of employment, social cohesion, regional 
                    development, IT, tourism etc. This again indicates the transversal 
                    quality of the cultural field, its interconnectedness with 
                    almost every aspect of contemporary life - and reaching far 
                    beyond the realm of cultural exchange and cooperation as the 
                    main objective of current policy action for culture in the 
                    EU. This should not serve the instrumentalisation of the cultural 
                    field or its mere justification, but rather indicate the existence 
                    of a variety of intersections that cultural policies 
                    - and not only regional, economic or development policies 
                    - should take into account. 
                    Parallel to this development at the level of the EU institutions, 
                    complementing and more often advancing it, there has been 
                    an ongoing dynamisation of cross-border cooperation, interaction 
                    and exchange in the so-called third sector, among independent 
                    cultural initiatives and organisations of many kinds. This 
                    has included the creation of formal and informal trans-European 
                    networks, which have continuously developed their activities 
                    and competencies. Moreover, they have been increasingly concerned 
                    with raising awareness for European issues, as well as acting 
                    as an interface between the European institutions and the 
                    'field'.  
                    These networks have certainly been particularly affected by 
                    the precarious funding situation, which is often exacerbated 
                    by the fact that national and regional authorities do not 
                    feel responsible for supporting them, while the European institutions 
                    do not have sufficient resources to do so - let alone with 
                    a middle or long term strategy in view. Nevertheless, as in 
                    the case of the European Forum 
                    for Arts and Heritage (EFAH) and many others, networking 
                    certainly intensified from 1992 onwards. Many networks that 
                    were already founded in the 1980s, parallel to the intensification 
                    of EU measures in culture, set up coordination offices, held 
                    first constitutional meetings and expanded their networks 
                    of members, while others were created to boost mutual exchange, 
                    mobility and cooperation in the most diverse areas and aspects 
                    of the cultural field.  
                   
                    The legislative framework today: a close reading of Article 
                    151  
                  There are three articles concerning culture in the Treaty 
                    of Amsterdam: Article 3q states that the activities of the 
                    Community shall include "a contribution to education 
                    and training of quality and to the flowering of the cultures 
                    of the Member States", thus stipulating a certain 
                    responsibility of the Community in this field. Article 87(3)d 
                    addresses culture in relation to trade regulations. It authorises 
                    the Member States to provide aid for economic operators in 
                    order to promote culture and heritage conservation, provided 
                    such aid is compatible with the common market. 
                    The main legal basis for any cultural action at EU level, 
                    however, is Article 151 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (ex-Article 
                    128 in the Treaty of Maastricht). It asks the EU to make use 
                    of its instruments to support cultural initiatives under the 
                    twofold objective that the community shall "contribute 
                    to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while 
                    respecting their national and regional diversity, and at the 
                    same time to bring their common cultural heritage to the fore" 
                    (Clause 1). 
                    This statement of principle already evokes the tension between 
                    the two most crucial conceptions in this context: an assumed 
                    commonality supported by the idea of a shared history, common 
                    heritage etc. on the one hand, and the cultural diversity 
                    of the people living in Europe that needs to be protected 
                    and safeguarded on the other. Generally, this tension is perceived 
                    not so much as a contradiction in itself, but appears easily 
                    reconcilable in what is called "the unity of diversities". 
                    The construction of a "common cultural arena" built 
                    on a shared history and heritage with the intention to foster 
                    a 'European consciousness', an enhanced sense of belonging, 
                    is to be considered problematic, when it promotes an exclusionary, 
                    fixed and seemingly coherent conception of Europe as a cultural 
                    space, based on binary oppositions of inside and outside. 
                    A conservative interpretation of diversity insists on stable 
                    identities, forcing the concept back into an essentialist 
                    framework of consent and unification and can be as empty as 
                    reactionary. 
                    If cultural diversity, however, does not only take into account 
                    the differences between the Member States or regions, but 
                    also within them, if it is understood as a matter of continuous 
                    processes of intersection, exchange, change and differentiation 
                    in time and space, it can be a productive concept. A progressive 
                    understanding of diversity does not only (critically) consider 
                    political, social and economic developments such as migration 
                    or current processes of increasing differentiation and individualization 
                    in society. It also neither defensively denies difference 
                    nor does it fear conflict, but implies promoting the idea 
                    of dynamic differences, which are a matter of constant 
                    exchange and negotiation. 
                  Cooperation and Exchange 
                  Clause 2 of the Article 151 defines the scope for community 
                    action with regard to culture as follows: 
                    - improving the knowledge and dissemination of the culture 
                    and history of the European peoples 
                    - conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage of European 
                    significance 
                    - non-commercial cultural exchanges 
                    - artistic and literary creation, including in the audiovisual 
                    sector 
                     
                    This can clearly be interpreted as a responsibility of the 
                    EU concerning culture, from the level of artistic/cultural 
                    production, to the level of the distribution of all cultural 
                    production including historical knowledge about it, to the 
                    level of its preservation. A progressive reading of the latter 
                    not only entails what has become part of history or heritage 
                    - tangible and intangible - but also as something that is 
                    constantly in process and enriched by what is currently being 
                    produced or happening in the cultural field in Europe. Yet, 
                    the main focus of the article lies on the issue of cooperation 
                    and exchange, notably on non-commercial cultural exchange. 
                    This is not only a remarkably clear statement, but also represents 
                    an indispensable requirement in relation to the increasing 
                    dominance of the "cultural industries" in transnational 
                    cultural activities in Europe as well as on a global scale. 
                    However, we should not overlook the fact that in the article 
                    these activities are limited to the "culture and history" 
                    (singular!) of the European peoples. This again 
                    constructs a fixed and homogenous cultural "entity", 
                    while histories and cultures that cannot be ascribed to the 
                    "European peoples" are automatically excluded from 
                    this discourse about learning from each other, about exchange 
                    and cooperation - no matter how significant their influences 
                    on and intersections with Europe have been over time. It also 
                    does not allow all people living in Europe to be part 
                    of the aims and activities as sketched out in these lines. 
                    Clause 3 then stipulates that "the European Union 
                    promotes measures involving cooperation between cultural operators 
                    from the various Member States and supports their initiatives 
                    and cooperation is encouraged with third countries, international 
                    organisations and in particular the Council of Europe". 
                    This opens up the closure, but not to the "non-Europeans" 
                    within the EU. Here the Union is prepared to reach beyond 
                    its borders and to take into account a wider conception of 
                    Europe in its activities, which is certainly related to the 
                    approaches and activities of the Council of Europe that preceded 
                    community action in the field of culture at many levels. Supported 
                    by agreements such as the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (1995) 
                    or the Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the members of 
                    the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the 
                    EU (2000), the article would enable not only cooperation in 
                    Central and South-Eastern Europe, but also the Mediterranean 
                    or in the context of a post-colonial situation. 
                    As regards the implementation of Article 151 - and this will 
                    certainly be much more the case after the enlargement of the 
                    EU - questions must be addressed about both legal and financial 
                    preconditions for a real and successful implementation of 
                    the objective of exchange and cooperation. The question arises, 
                    whether all the Member States, regions and operators inside 
                    and outside the EU borders have the same rights and possibilities 
                    to access and participate in programmes such as 'Culture 2000' 
                    or the European city of culture - even if they are eligible 
                    to do so. There are significant imbalances and inadequacies 
                    between different regions or states, e.g. in tax regulations, 
                    the recognition of diplomas, local/national funding etc., 
                    which can pose hindrances. The divergence of cultural administration 
                    or funding systems in the various countries can represent 
                    a major obstacle, and with the new Member States joining the 
                    EU and with the members of the Council of Europe, this problematic 
                    situation becomes an even more urgent issue. 
                    Another important point is that a future-oriented and progressive 
                    implementation of the article will have to leave behind a 
                    conservative logic of bilateral cooperation. Until 
                    now, a real understanding of the preconditions and requirements 
                    for new forms of multilateral transnational cooperation 
                    and exchange, which are often much more complex, risky and 
                    expensive, has not yet been reached in Europe. These new forms 
                    include, e.g., networking projects over a longer period of 
                    time, for which the member states mostly do not feel responsible. 
                    Based on Article 151, the EU should invest in these forms 
                    of transnational cultural action to a much greater extent. 
                    Further, conceptions of cultural cooperation should not only 
                    consider an expanded Europe and especially promote exchange 
                    with "neglected" or hitherto excluded areas, but 
                    should also apply to a global dimension, working on cooperation 
                    activities with Africa or Asia. 
                  The Subsidiarity Principle 
                  Article 151 comprises two different, very elementary facets: 
                    on the one hand it clearly states a responsibility and obligation 
                    for the EC to act in the field of culture. On the other hand, 
                    the scope of action is relatively limited, clearly restricted 
                    to the areas mentioned above, i.e. mainly cooperation and 
                    exchange. But most importantly, the article's implementation 
                    is subjected to the threefold restriction of the principle 
                    of subsidiarity, the exclusion of harmonisation and the unanimity 
                    requirement, as expressed in Clause 5 of Article 151. This 
                    also applies to all formal instruments concerning culture 
                    in the EU. 
                    Regarding areas such as culture or education, which do not 
                    fall within the EU's exclusive competence, Article 5(2) of 
                    the treaty declares that "the Community shall take 
                    action, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, 
                    only if and insofar as the objectives of the proposed action 
                    cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can 
                    therefore, by reason of scale and effects of the proposed 
                    action, be better achieved by the Community". 
                    The Community is thus obliged to supplement and support the 
                    actions of the Member States, but it can intervene only under 
                    the condition that certain aims cannot be achieved by the 
                    Member States themselves and that an action by the EU can 
                    guarantee greater efficiency. For proof that this obligation 
                    is more than justified in many instances in the cultural field, 
                    one only has to look at the various forms of current transnational 
                    multilateral cultural activities, especially those of European 
                    networks. As stated in Article 151, these activities are also 
                    clearly defined as a shared objective of the Member States. 
                    But the Treaty lacks a clear division of competencies between 
                    Community and Member States, and invoking the principle of 
                    subsidiarity serves all too well for some, in order to avoid 
                    any further development of policies, programmes, ideas, visions 
                    etc. at the European level. A too narrow application of the 
                    subsidiarity principle in connection with the requirement 
                    of unanimity within the Council of Ministers in co-decision 
                    with Parliament has slowed the processing of cultural programmes 
                    considerably. This seriously impedes the successful implementation 
                    of the article. 
                    This does not mean that the principle of subsidiarity and 
                    the aspect of a division of competencies in the field of culture 
                    should be abandoned. However, a useful and future-oriented 
                    clarification of the levels of competencies will also have 
                    to entail a closer look at the very specific aspects in culture, 
                    where the shared objectives can better and more efficiently 
                    be achieved at European level. Similarly, this has become 
                    necessary in the fields of education or research, for example, 
                    in order to guarantee higher quality, an amplification of 
                    impact and the enhancement of long-term strategies. As a set 
                    of criteria for scale and reach in Europe and beyond its borders, 
                    these aspects not only legitimate a shift of competence and 
                    responsibility from the national to the European level with 
                    regard to many already existing transnational multilateral 
                    activities and cooperations. Properly implemented, this would 
                    also contribute to a further enhancement of projects and exchanges, 
                    as well as the creation of public spheres and spaces, specifically 
                    and actively dealing with the cultural dimension of 
                    European integration. 
                     
                    Clause 4: Great Potential and Missing Implementation 
                  Finally, there is Clause 4, which has become one of the main 
                    focal points in the current discussion about the implementation 
                    of Article 151. It stipulates that the EC must "take 
                    cultural aspects into account under other provisions of the 
                    Treaty, in particular in order to respect and to promote the 
                    diversity of its culture". In comparison with other 
                    stipulations in the article, the formulation of this clause 
                    implies a wide-ranging field of activity and could have a 
                    considerable impact, even though the Treaty does not provide 
                    a clarification of the scope of this obligation.  
                    On the one hand, Clause 4 marks the important recognition 
                    that culture is an issue that cuts across many different segments, 
                    and it establishes a formal relation between culture and other 
                    spheres of life, work, society, etc., which allows cultural 
                    agencies to claim a greater share of resources from programmes 
                    whose objectives are not exclusively cultural (e.g. the Structural 
                    Funds). On the other hand, it asks for a critical assessment 
                    of the impact and the effects that decisions in other policy 
                    areas might have on the cultural field (in German: 'Kulturverträglichkeitsklausel') 
                    This takes the possibility into account that cultural life 
                    and development could be impaired by other decisions, which 
                    applies to competition or other trade regulations, for example. 
                     
                    The experience of the last ten years has shown that the implementation 
                    of Clause 4 has not been at all satisfactory. If it were seriously 
                    implemented, however, it could create a better understanding 
                    of the relevance of culture in a variety of fields, and raise 
                    awareness for cultural issues and how they relate to other 
                    spheres and policies. This should not lead merely to instrumentalising 
                    the cultural field in order to boost certain sectors in the 
                    economy or employment, but rather to an enhanced understanding 
                    of the transversality of the cultural field. 
                   
                    What is at Stake in the Current Work Programmes 
                  With this historical and legal background in mind, it is 
                    worthwhile to consider how and in which direction the debate 
                    within the institutions has most recently evolved. During 
                    the Belgian presidency, in the second half of the year 2001, 
                    the three Community institutions again took up the debate 
                    on the future of European cultural action. It was an important 
                    moment to do so, as the summit of Laeken, mapping out the 
                    parameters for the debate on the future of Europe in the Convention 
                    and leading up to the intergovernmental conference in 2004, 
                    was to take place in December 2001, and ten years of the existence 
                    of Article 151 called for an evaluation of its effects and 
                    its implementation. Yet no concrete action took effect, neither 
                    regarding the Declaration nor the Convention. 
                    Already in July 2001, the European Parliament had published 
                    its "Report on cultural cooperation in the European Union" 
                    by Giorgio Ruffolo, which was most influential in this debate. 
                    The report was not only critical of the current situation, 
                    especially reiterating the facts of a lack of cooperation 
                    and chronic under-funding for culture in the EU (0,1% of the 
                    Community funding in 2000), but also proposed a number of 
                    concrete targets. These include the institution of a "European 
                    agency to monitor cultural cooperation, with the aim of promoting 
                    the exchange of information and coordination between the cultural 
                    policies of the Member States and Community cultural policy". 
                    Further, Ruffolo explicitly called for an increase in efforts 
                    in the area of culture and proposed "the extension 
                    of qualified majority voting in any further revision of the 
                    Treaty to ensure support for measures in the cultural sector". 
                    Based on this report, the European Parliament issued its "Resolution 
                    on Cultural Cooperation in the EU", aspiring to extend 
                    the field of cultural cooperation.  
                    On 23 May 2002, under the Spanish presidency, the Council 
                    adopted a resolution on the implementation of a new work plan 
                    for European cooperation in the field of culture, including 
                    the priorities of establishing mechanisms to ensure that culture 
                    is represented in other Community actions and the creation 
                    of permanent institutional networks for cooperation between 
                    the various cultural sectors, in order to foster the mobility 
                    of artists and works of art. 
                    In the meantime, a "Study on the Mobility and Free Movement 
                    of People and Products in the Cultural Sector" has been 
                    published by the European Commission. The Danish presidency 
                    focused on the "analysis and definition of the added 
                    value of European actions in the field of culture". These 
                    examples illustrate that no groundbreaking action is being 
                    taken at the level of the institutions, nor are there significant 
                    plans with respect to a further development of the legal instruments 
                    for culture in the treaty to come. Although these are important 
                    issues in themselves, they are not part of a bigger contextual 
                    and political framework, and they lack an active engagement 
                    with the future of European cultural policies. 
                   Perspectives for the Future? 
                  As far as Article 151 is concerned, we can conclude that 
                    in spite of all its imperfections, it provides a basis for 
                    the European Community to play an active role in terms of 
                    culture, but what it has actually achieved so far is generally 
                    disappointing. Since the inclusion of the article in the Treaties, 
                    the Community has failed to really articulate this role and 
                    take on its responsibilities. 
                    There no longer seems to be any danger that Article 151 might 
                    be removed from the Treaty in the course of a redrafting of 
                    the division of competences. It is most likely that the article 
                    will remain in the treaties in its current fashion, that is 
                    focusing on the aspects of cooperation and exchange under 
                    the two-fold objective of contributing to the cultural life 
                    of the Member States, while paying special attention to the 
                    diversity in the EU, and including a clause on the obligation 
                    to consider cultural aspects in other provisions of the treaty. 
                    From a pragmatic point of view this might not be the worst 
                    situation to face. However, if the cultural field is to take 
                    an active role in Europe as a future-oriented political project, 
                    the legal and financial preconditions in relation to it have 
                    to be considerably enhanced. Firstly, this asks for an interpretation 
                    of the subsidiarity principle that does not any longer deny 
                    the growing presence and the specific needs of transnational 
                    activities in the cultural field, which definitely lie beyond 
                    the possibilities and policies of the Member States. Secondly, 
                    it urgently asks for the replacement of the unanimity requirement, 
                    which hampers a dynamic development of cultural policies at 
                    EU level, by qualified majority voting in decision making. 
                    Generally, the often very lengthy processes of negotiating 
                    and decision making, bearing in most cases no relation to 
                    the budgets in question, have to be simplified and speeded 
                    up. The same goes for future programming, notably the design 
                    of the new framework programme for culture, which is to succeed 
                    the programme 'Culture 2000' in 2006.  
                    Although the current legislation's full potential has not 
                    yet been exploited and its proper implementation would enable 
                    wider schemes of cultural cooperation, in the longer term 
                    the article in its present formulation will neither suffice 
                    nor provide an answer to the pressing questions of cultural 
                    politics and practices in Europe. Apart from its wording, 
                    which partly indicates a rigid and exclusionist conception 
                    of the European sphere, it will have to be developed and taken 
                    further according to the role that the cultural field should 
                    take in the future development of the EU. This refers especially 
                    to the conception of culture in relation to questions of democratic 
                    development, citizenship, transversality, access and participation. 
                    The debate will have to be taken up in order to overcome the 
                    rather defensive strategies of the actors in the field and 
                    to draw proactive lines of perspectives for "European 
                    cultural policies". 
   
                   
                  II. Overcoming the Vague and the Hollow. Towards New Concepts of Cultural Politics
                  Culture as such is not necessarily good. Plato, in the interest 
                    of community life, symbolically banned artists, thinking they 
                    would endanger his ideal state. The Frankfurt School taught 
                    us about the "affirmative character of culture" 
                    (Marcuse) and the damage that is brought about to societies 
                    by the cultural industry (Adorno/Horkheimer), and contemporary 
                    Cultural Studies propose a fundamental critique of the indestructible, 
                    conservative and colonializing concepts of culture divided 
                    into "high" and "low".  
                    In daily life we also learn about the negative aspects of 
                    culture being used to mobilize and direct, control and influence 
                    people: In the central and subway stations of Hamburg and 
                    Vienna for instance, the sounds of Mozart and Beethoven, distorted 
                    through the speakers systems of public transport, are instrumentalized 
                    to expel marginal groups from their familiar spaces. Along 
                    with the hype of creative industries, artists and cultural 
                    workers are increasingly forced to work in the experimental 
                    grounds of hyperflexibilisation and to function - without 
                    having been asked - as pioneers of the New Economy. And in 
                    the discourses of "cultural clashes" and "cultural 
                    wars", "cultural identity" is referred to as 
                    something that is absolutely fixed, something that separates 
                    people from one another or even incites them to kill one another. 
                     
                    Cultural heritage thus develops into a tool for restricting 
                    the public spheres, cultural industries turn out to induce 
                    postfordist processes of (self-)exploitation, and cultural 
                    identity becomes a concept to justify exclusion and wars. 
                  Despite this theoretical and practical evidence, in the discourse 
                    on cultural policies (regardless of whether right-wing or 
                    left-wing) we still find the same commonplaces about "culture 
                    as such" constituting identity and bringing peace and 
                    harmony to people's lives. The usual justification strategies 
                    for culture as such still employ the classical humanistic 
                    argument without any further reasoning: When theatres and 
                    museums are in danger of being closed, it is argued that culture 
                    is a part of the human condition. To refute this, it is not 
                    even necessary to quote Adorno's statement about the impossibility 
                    of writing poetry after Auschwitz. Since culture as a pure 
                    and positive aspect of civilisation and humanity has always 
                    been reserved to the small portion of white, heterosexual 
                    bourgeois people, this never has been a democratic argument. 
                    It becomes totally inappropriate under the postmodern conditions 
                    of control society, especially whenever universal rights are 
                    instrumentalised for particular interests. 
                  There is an urgent need to replace the hollow phraseology 
                    of culture between high pathos and technocratic speech using 
                    terms and definitions that say nothing at all. This applies 
                    not only to the concept of culture, but to all the cultural 
                    policy terms and concepts that have been ornaments of ideologies 
                    for too long and too extensively, so that they remain void 
                    of all content.  
                    Let us briefly examine the case of the term cultural identity 
                    as an example: In most of the cultural policy papers and speeches, 
                    cultural identity is referred to as the most important positive 
                    argument for the support of culture - but again either without 
                    any argument or with the most different arguments 
                    imaginable:  
                    - the nationalist/localist argument: Some use it in the context 
                    of a defensive, somewhat chauvinistic argument concerning 
                    one's "homeland" <heimat>, national, regional 
                    or local background. This tactic of homogenizing and standardizing 
                    a certain geographical area and its inhabitants is in fact 
                    also becoming an increasingly important instrument of populist 
                    power strategies. Constructing an artificial "we" 
                    against the absolute outside of "them" paves the 
                    way for exclusionist and racist politics. A cultural policy 
                    that takes up a discourse like this uses the concept of cultural 
                    identity for building monuments that remind us of a great 
                    past, or organizing big cultural events that are suitable 
                    for unifying collective feelings. At the European level, "identity 
                    without nation" does not solve the problem, but simply 
                    transfers it to a supranational level.  
                    - the neoliberal argument: Others use it in the economic context 
                    of branding, of improving the image and the marketability 
                    of places, cities, states. Within this notion of cultural 
                    identity, culture is put to the service of generating a sense 
                    of authenticity and uniqueness for quasi-promotional agendas. 
                    Culture turns into a perfect tool of appropriation for the 
                    valorization of (urban or national) images and becomes a complementary 
                    measure for advertising and marketing.  
                    - the visibility argument: Finally, some desperately use it 
                    in a smaller administrative context, losing every sense of 
                    proportions. For them cultural identity means that culture 
                    is the perfect field for raising the visibility of the European 
                    Union, for designing the corporate identity of Europe with 
                    a few crumbs like the EU-budget for cultural cooperation. 
                    A thousand EU logos on folders and websites should win the 
                    hearts of the Europeans.  
                  If we do not want to cling to this kind of background of 
                    intellectual void with its familiar arguments, or just rely 
                    on the assumption that culture as such is good, we have to 
                    search for new arguments and to propose a set of terms and 
                    issues, which ensure that the concepts of cultural politics 
                    can be built on firmer ground. Through these new arguments, 
                    cultural politics have to become a nucleus of democratic 
                    politics. So in order to find out about the - positive, productive 
                    - political functions of culture in a future Europe, we have 
                    to risk leaving the paths of the familiar cultural policy 
                    talk and try to find new terms to express new concepts or 
                    to express concepts at all. In the sense of new concepts, 
                    we would like to propose a framework of categories to serve 
                    as a new basis for European cultural politics and for the 
                    diverse levels of cultural policies and their concrete fields 
                    of action. 
                   
                    Temporary Autonomy in the Cultural Field 
                  
                    "If the remnants of public, civic culture aim to make 
                    art appear useful to the voting population as a form of social 
                    service and tourism, then how long can the idea of artistic 
                    autonomy and its celebration of individual freedom, even in 
                    its current, transparently bankrupt form, remain useful to 
                    the de-territorialized needs of global capital?" (Gregory 
                    Sholette)  
                  Stating that there is no implicitly positive culture as such 
                    and investigating the political functions of culture does 
                    not mean abandoning every concept of autonomy in the cultural 
                    field. On the contrary: the actors in the cultural field need 
                    a clear vision about what the functions of culture and cultural 
                    politics are and will be, in order to defend its autonomy 
                    against inroads from neoliberal globalization and its catchwords 
                    and categories like cultural/creative industries, cultural 
                    entrepeneurs and the eternal promise of bread and spectacles. 
                    Thus, in the present situation the cultural field needs to 
                    regain new forms of autonomy. In saying this, we do not mean 
                    ideological constructions of autonomy as an imaginary realm 
                    of independence. After more than a century of aestheticism 
                    and after some decades of postfordism, what remained of this 
                    old version of artistic autonomy is only a specialized marketing 
                    tool of both conservative elitism and mass media industries. 
                    Nor do we wish to cling to a descriptive sociological concept 
                    of the autonomy of the cultural or the arts field (cf. Niklas 
                    Luhmann or Pierre Bourdieu), relying on the obvious fact that 
                    each field has its own rules and structures and therefore 
                    its relative autonomy.  
                    At a time when the economy is breaking down borders and crashing 
                    the gates of all fields, we prefer to use more precarious 
                    concepts of autonomy, which must constantly be struggled for; 
                    concepts of critiques of power, subversion and subversive 
                    affirmation, which focus on a temporary form of autonomy. 
                    This autonomy is an autonomy of collectives, rather than one 
                    of autonomous individuals. It strives for the self-determination 
                    and self-management of these collectives, which exist only 
                    for a limited period of time. Here the cultural field seems 
                    to function like a laboratory for experimenting with new forms 
                    of organisation. 
                    This of course is a political concept of autonomy, which basically 
                    propagates that every initiative, every institution and every 
                    project in the cultural field should act as independently 
                    as possible, and at the same time take up a specific function 
                    in the struggle against the overall dominance of global economy. 
                    Being autonomous then means not being forced to yield to the 
                    ideological pressure of financiers or other power structures, 
                    and at the same time to become a part of a cultural field 
                    through this - temporary, precarious and collective - autonomy, 
                    which provides spaces for diversity and difference in contrast 
                    to the encroaching and homogenizing tendency of economy.  
                  
                     
                    The Pluralisation of Public Spheres 
                  
                    " [...] a European federal state that deserves the name 
                    of a democratic Europe is - in a normative view - impossible, 
                    if within the horizon of a common political culture there 
                    is no European wide integrated public sphere, a civil society 
                    of communities of interests, non-governmental organizations, 
                    citizens movements, etc. [...] in short a context of communication 
                    which reaches beyond the borders of the so far only national 
                    public spheres." (Jürgen Habermas) 
                  Complaining about the lack of a European public sphere has 
                    already become a commonplace in recent decades, and yet an 
                    integrated sphere of this kind is not emerging anywhere at 
                    all. In the contrary, the situation seems to be growing worse. 
                    This is not only due to the strength of the national 
                    frameworks and the respective public spheres, or to the evidently 
                    increasing domination of the media markets by few transnational 
                    media corporations (which is both a complementary and paradoxical 
                    development), but also to a fundamental misunderstanding of 
                    the options, the impacts and the desirable size of public 
                    spheres and public spaces. A singular European public sphere 
                    is not only impossible, but would also be in no way productive, 
                    as long as it is not conceived in the plural. What counts 
                    is not claiming or conceptualizing a single public 
                    sphere (whether it is one exclusively for privileged classes 
                    or for an all-encompassing meta-public), but rather permanently 
                    constituting plural public spheres corresponding to the many 
                    facets of the people living in Europe: a multiplicity of public 
                    spheres, not imagined statically, but rather as the becomings 
                    of articulatory and emancipatory practices. 
                    Such dynamic public spheres create the preconditions for mutually 
                    exchanging different positions, for the different relating 
                    to the different. Their boundaries are permeable, they themselves 
                    are neither exclusive-excluding, nor inclusive-uniforming. 
                    It is thus not a matter of consensually unifying the existing 
                    public spheres in Europe into one powerful public sphere throughout 
                    the whole of Europe, but rather of conflictually opening and 
                    multiplying them. What counts is not homogenization, but rather 
                    permanent contention, the constant renegotiation of different 
                    positions.  
                    Accordingly, "culture" should neither be used as 
                    the last resort in constructing and reproducing national identities, 
                    nor should it be instrumentalized in the attempt to systematically 
                    construct a European identity. Rather it should be understood 
                    as a laboratory of exemplary models for the processual, constructive 
                    dynamisation of differences. Such models have developed an 
                    especially strong and diverse quality in different parts of 
                    Europe. Concrete cultural initiatives, from sociocultural 
                    centres and their experiments in collective real spaces to 
                    the virtual spaces of media arts projects, from community 
                    arts to the various forms of interventionist practices and 
                    performances between theatre and visual arts, from independent 
                    radios to netculture, have proved that they can produce specific 
                    political spaces and public spheres.  
                    Their first advantage is that they promote the positions and 
                    the participation of minorities against all forms of majoritarian 
                    homogenization. Moreover, these public spheres in the cultural 
                    field presuppose a structure that is in opposition to two 
                    dangerous phenomena of populism today: the pluralization of 
                    cultural and media landscapes is to be supported distinctly 
                    against an increasingly transnationalised media concentration. 
                    The growing instrumentalization of direct democracy procedures 
                    by populist politics is to be fought by giving more people 
                    access to solid, serious and plural information and to small-scale 
                    decision making. Within a multitude of public spheres, they 
                    are able to actively express and exchange their needs. And 
                    where are these spheres and spaces to be found, if not in 
                    the cultural field? 
                    But whereas the aforementioned forms of concrete cultural 
                    initiatives are based on the principles of temporariness and 
                    change, the respective cultural policies seem to concentrate 
                    on the opposite, on a retrogressive tendency to support steady 
                    institutions and even to institutionalize, to organize the 
                    stasis of movement. Even though 1968 has often been mystified 
                    as marking a great change in (cultural) policies, the changes 
                    since then have really only been of a cosmetic nature regarding 
                    public support for non-profit organisations in the cultural 
                    field in comparison with big public institutions.  
                    It is the Member States' and the EU's duty to establish the 
                    preconditions for the production of state-independent public 
                    spheres. This means that the states have to guarantee conditions 
                    for public debate, for cultural and intellectual fora in the 
                    broadest possible forms at all levels. Freedom of expression, 
                    freedom of the press, freedom of art mean more than to be 
                    free from pressure and censorship. Against the dominant 
                    tendency of monopoles and oligopolies controlling (cultural) 
                    markets, there has to be active state support for activating 
                    and pluralising expression, the press, the arts, so that they 
                    are free for producing public debates.  
                    If this is the case at the regional and national levels, there 
                    is even much more need to act at the European level. Whereas 
                    public spheres exist and thrive, to a greater or lesser extent, 
                    in the European nations, there are almost no procedures and 
                    fora for European debates, there are almost no European public 
                    spheres. However, there is also a positive side to this: in 
                    the creation of European public spheres, we have the option 
                    of starting from zero, seizing a real new opportunity. Small 
                    and medium-sized cultural initiatives and media could play 
                    an important role in facilitating a Europe that is radically 
                    oriented to participation. Cultural politics has an obligation 
                    to help transform these initiatives into a heterogeneous landscape 
                    of European public spheres.  
                   
                    Specific Intellectuals  
                    New Modes of Subjectification in the Cultural Field 
                  
                    "The engagement of artists, authors and scholars in social 
                    confrontations is becoming indispensable, especially today, 
                    as power takes totally new forms. Historical research has 
                    given sufficient evidence about the role of academic think 
                    tanks in the development and proliferation of today's world 
                    ruling neoliberal ideology. These conservative think tanks 
                    and experts are to be confronted by critical ones, in which 
                    'specific intellectuals' (in the Foucauldian sense experts 
                    that are competent in specific fields and affairs) come together 
                    in intellectual co-operations capable of defining objectives 
                    and aims of their actions." (Pierre Bourdieu) 
                  
                    When French philosopher Bourdieu took up the concept of his 
                    philosopher colleague Michel Foucault, he did so in order 
                    to propose a weapon against neoliberal ideology. Artists and 
                    intellectuals should not be instrumentalized and should not 
                    expose themselves as assistants to power, but rather interconnect 
                    their competencies with experts from other fields in order 
                    to resist power, to resist majoritarian structures.  
                  Intellectuals have positioned themselves as advocates of 
                    the universal for a long time. This of course is an old European 
                    tradition from Zola to Sartre, from Karl Kraus to Günter 
                    Grass. But Foucault proposes something completely different: 
                    Against the traditional concept of the universal intellectual 
                    thinking and talking about and for the others, 
                    Foucault demands a concept of the specific intellectual 
                    sharing his/her specific knowledge with the specific knowledge 
                    of others, thinking and talking with them, or as one 
                    of them. Whereas the structure of universal intellectuals 
                    is a structure that doubles representation and hierarchical 
                    communication and tends to get into the position of the majority, 
                    of constituted power, specific intellectuals prefer 
                    collective work and non-representational practices. In an 
                    a-hierarchical system of specific cross-connections the different 
                    competencies form a stream of constituent power (which 
                    never is supposed to become constituted power).  
                    In contexts like this, artists and intellectuals no longer 
                    understand themselves as (part-time)citoyens, whose political 
                    activism exists independently from their work as theoreticians 
                    or artists. Instead, they weave their competencies and activities 
                    into networks that reject a clear separation between political 
                    activities on the one hand, and science or art on the other. 
                    As a consequence, the traditional separation between theory 
                    and practice, between intellectual everyday life and political 
                    exception, between aesthetics and politics is dissolved in 
                    temporary overlaps and gives way to multiple interactions 
                    and superimpositions within the subjects themselves.  
                    Foucault's concept is indeed the basis of every progressive 
                    understanding of the political function that is to be assigned 
                    to the actors in the cultural field. It is only if intellectuals, 
                    artists and cultural workers discharge the strategies of representation, 
                    that they can assume an active role in overcoming the two 
                    contemporary models of universal intellectuals in an age of 
                    neoliberal instrumentalization: 1. intellectuals directly 
                    supporting the neoliberal power structures via think tanks, 
                    2. "media intellectuals" (Bourdieu) feeding into 
                    the machines of spectacle and extinguishing any complex debate 
                    through reductionist and populist commentaries. To oppose 
                    these relicts and remodellings of a false universality, progressive 
                    cultural policies have to develop strategies and programmes 
                    that support models of networking specific competencies and 
                    transversal cooperation, that foster modes of subjectification 
                    such as "authors as producers" (Walter Benjamin), 
                    rather than mystifying and instrumentalizing artists and intellectuals. 
                   
                    From Interdisiplinarity to Transversality 
                  Together with Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Michel 
                    Foucault introduced the term "transversality", which 
                    is to be conceived - at least in the contexts of the cultural 
                    field - as a proactive successor to the term "interdisciplinarity". 
                    Whereas interdisciplinarity has become a mainstream issue 
                    and commonplace in all forms of contemporary art and theory 
                    production, transversality tends to transcend the borders 
                    of the arts field, the academic field, or the political field. 
                    The concept of transversality does not imply a notion of certain 
                    points or disciplines as being connected, but a line of flight 
                    that constitutes new directions beyond the existing points 
                    and produces constant change. The notion of transversality 
                    is thus more than a descriptive tool in the arts world, it 
                    becomes a concept concerned with political struggles. 
                    Firstly, transversal struggles are struggles that "are 
                    not limited to a certain country" (Foucault). So one 
                    meaning of transversality is that it constructs a radical 
                    suspension of national discourses. Of course the cultural 
                    field is an exemplary field when it comes to developing concepts 
                    and realities of Europe, a field that is permanently processing 
                    in relation to enlargement, or more broader speaking, to multilateral 
                    transnational collaboration. But such forms of multilateral 
                    collaboration are complex, risky and consequently expensive. 
                    Thus they become a crucial cultural policy issue that has 
                    to be strengthened through programmes that break the bilateral 
                    logic so many cultural politicians tend to prefer; programmes 
                    that do not consolidate the existing links and hierarchies 
                    in the cultural fields, but try to strengthen the structures 
                    that are "beneath" or "outside". 
                    Secondly, transversality as a term contests one-dimensional, 
                    limiting and particularizing concepts. In the cultural field 
                    this concerns transsectorial activities and cooperation 
                    with different fields such as education, politics and science. 
                    Again, this does not mean repeating the commonplaces of interdisciplinarity, 
                    such as "transcending the borders between theatre and 
                    visual arts", but rather proposing and supporting new 
                    forms of collective cooperation among individuals and organisations 
                    from the most diverse sectors.  
                    Of course actors in the cultural field are permanently creating 
                    new networking practices that surface at the intersections 
                    of different nations and different fields of knowledge, which 
                    are normally kept separate. But what is at stake is a permanent 
                    tendency to push practices that use these methods in order 
                    to achieve a transversalisation of society. The basis for 
                    this kind of transversality is a multitude of transversal 
                    structures that do not represent particular, isolated (sub)cultures, 
                    but instead traverse many different situations within a patchwork 
                    of minorities. The manifold forms of cultural initiatives 
                    in Europe need to be supported, so that they do not yield 
                    to the pressures of homogenization and particularization. 
                    These experiences and assets of transversal practices in the 
                    cultural field are to be seen as prototypes for a future republic 
                    and therefore to be disseminated as models for other fields. 
                   
                  
                     
                    Remapping Access  
                    Culture Commons instead of Cultural Industries 
                  In the last thirty years cultural policies in many parts 
                    of Europe acknowledged the importance of upholding the culture 
                    commons and tried to maximize equal access to culture and 
                    cultural institutions. These developments, often linked to 
                    the progress of social democracies in Europe (with concepts 
                    like the German "Kultur für alle"), do not 
                    lack certain problematic aspects: Cheap tickets for theatres, 
                    opera houses and galleries cannot solve all the problems of 
                    aesthetic quality and political relevance, and the emancipatory 
                    aspect of "culture for all" very often turned into 
                    an attitude of producing state-supported spectacles as part 
                    of populist policies. In the most negative cases, this led 
                    to unfair competition for independent cultural initiatives. 
                    Nevertheless, the right to public access has not only transformed 
                    the surface of what is called "high culture", it 
                    has also set standards in newly emerging sectors. In order 
                    to explore and to promote new participatory kinds of citizenship, 
                    public access policies not only have to be safeguarded, but 
                    offensively extended and permanently adapted to new forms 
                    of production, e.g. in the fields of media art, digital arts, 
                    electronic and net culture. 
                    On the other side it seems that due to the concept and the 
                    hype of the "creative industries", there is a tendency 
                    to focus on the possibilities of economic exploitation rather 
                    than on the critical, participatory and political potential 
                    of cultural content. Creative industries as postfordist versions 
                    of the huge structures of cultural industry (cf. Horkheimer/Adorno) 
                    tend to limit, rather than to expand the range and the concepts 
                    of what is mainstreamed as culture. They largely oligopolize 
                    access and thus are in sharp contrast to the perception of 
                    culture commons and public access, and to the development 
                    and empowerment of wider and more active publics.  
                    Pluralistic developments, programmes in favour of public access 
                    and models of availability in the cultural field are the only 
                    measure to counter the fragmentation and fencing off of business-driven 
                    cultural clusters optimizing their revenue sources. To counter 
                    the trend biased towards economic reasoning (capacity audiences, 
                    indirect profitability, evaluations, etc.) it is necessary 
                    to reinforce aspects of public access and participation at 
                    all levels of policies.
  
                     
                    Transparency Plus Participation Means Critique 
                  When it comes to problems of transparency on the one 
                    hand and participation on the other, Eurocrats think 
                    they are referring to image problems of the European Union 
                    or to the euroscepticism of its citizens. This logic denies 
                    an important aspect of the correlation between the two topics. 
                    The main criteria of most of the reform proposals for European 
                    administration, the criteria of participation and transparency, 
                    remain empty if not related to each other. What is the use 
                    of transparency when nobody makes use of it? And what is the 
                    use of participation, if only national representatives are 
                    allowed to participate on the stage of decision-making? 
                    The mechanisms necessary to make transparency effective are 
                    not achieving consensus or majority votes of representatives, 
                    but rather activating as many individuals and partial public 
                    spheres as possible. This is the sole and urgent alternative 
                    to the discourses of security and control that are interspersed 
                    in postmodern democracies in an extremely dangerous form. 
                    In the context of today's control society, the classical fears 
                    of the abstract state (the fear of losing the rights of participation 
                    and self-management, the fear of anonymous bureaucracies and 
                    the fear of redistribution of resources) are not to be countered 
                    by a monstrous copy of the national states' political mechanisms 
                    transformed and multiplied to the supranational level. Instead, 
                    transparency is to be extended in conjunction with stimulating 
                    a permanent and constructive critical momentum.  
                    Critical discourse is not only the motor of democracy, it 
                    is also the only chance to make strategies for transparency 
                    useful. If no intellectual, artistic, political discourses 
                    are developed which criticise what is going on in Europe, 
                    there will be no interest, no participation in European issues 
                    at all. The respective resources, actors, institutions and 
                    initiatives of the cultural field are to be mobilized and 
                    supported for a continuous critical reflection on more general 
                    ideas about Europe, as well as for the constant expansion 
                    of participation in the debates and critique of the structures 
                    and discourses of the "official" Europe. The cultural 
                    field is the perfect ground for debates, disputes and conflicts, 
                    it is a ground for difference and diversity, it is a ground 
                    for people's permanent becoming. 
  
 III. Preliminary List of Recommendations for European Cultural 
                    Policies
                  
                  multilateral! measures to support multilateral cooperation in an expanded 
                    Europe and beyond · to enable, promote and support transnational multilateral 
                    cooperation projects while taking into account their complexity 
                    and specific requirements  
                    · to enhance mobility and cross-border cultural activities, 
                    balancing economic and social inequalities between EU Member 
                    States and other countries 
                    · to promote and support multilinguality 
                    · to install positive discrimination for funding projects, 
                    in which initiatives from an expanded Europe participate, 
                    especially the Ukraine, Moldavia, Byelorussia, Russia, Yugoslavia 
                    and Albania as well as the non-EU countries of the Mediterranean 
                    · to enhance and further develop new programmes and 
                    define new targets in cooperation projects with African and 
                    Asian Countries as well as the Americas, while making use 
                    of existing agreements (EuroMED, Cotonou, etc.) 
                  
                  
                   
                    public! 
                    measures to support the creation and development of critical 
                    public spheres · to support cultural initiatives that contribute to 
                    the production of critical public spheres, activate and pluralise 
                    public debates 
                    · to support cultural initiatives that actively deal 
                    with issues of democratic politics such as equality, gender, 
                    migration and citizenship  
                    · to enable public access and models of participation 
                    in the cultural field, especially in relation to the new information 
                    technologies 
                    · to foster contemporary transversal research, development 
                    and theory production in the cultural field 
                  
                  
                   
                    network! 
                    measures to support new organisational forms of cooperation 
                    in the cultural field · to support new models of transversal (transsectorial 
                    and transnational) cooperation 
                    · to hold both EU and Member States responsible for 
                    supporting trans-European networks regardless of where they 
                    are based 
                    · to enhance the building of transnational networks 
                    of smaller initiatives and organisations and facilitate their 
                    access to culture programmes  
                   
                  
                   
                    administrate! 
                    measures to implement appropriate financial and administrative 
                    preconditions for cultural activity in Europe · to significantly increase the EU-budget for cultural 
                    activities for the benefit of innovative projects that meet 
                    the criteria of transversality, multilateral cooperation and 
                    the production of critical public spheres 
                    · to improve the stringency and ensure the proper implementation 
                    of Article 151, notably of Clause 4, and remove the unanimity 
                    requirement 
                    · enable faster processing of decisions in cultural 
                    policy 
                    · to stop the funding of emblematic or symbolic projects 
                    · to simplify application and implementation procedures, 
                    advance the whole decision process, stop the delays in contracting 
                    and payment in project administration  
                   
                  
                   
                  
 
                   
                  
                   
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