(1)

The ideals, principles and values embedded in Europe's cultural heritage constitute a shared source of remembrance, understanding, identity, dialogue, cohesion and creativity for Europe. Cultural heritage plays a role in the European Union and the preamble to the Treaty on European Union (TEU) states that the signatories drew inspiration from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe.

(2)

Article 3(3) TEU states that the Union is to respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and ensure that Europe's cultural heritage is safeguarded and enhanced.

(3)

Article 167 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) gives the Union the task of contributing to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore. Union action is to be aimed at encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, supporting and supplementing their action in the areas of, inter alia, the improvement of the knowledge and dissemination of the culture and history of the European peoples, and the conservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage of European significance.

(4)

As highlighted by the Commission in its communication of 22 July 2014 entitled ‘Towards an integrated approach to cultural heritage for Europe’, cultural heritage is to be considered a shared resource and a common good held in trust for future generations. It is therefore a common responsibility of all stakeholders to look after cultural heritage.

(5)

Cultural heritage is of great value to European society from a cultural, environmental, social and economic point of view. Thus, its sustainable management constitutes a strategic choice for the twenty-first century, as stressed by the Council in its conclusions of 21 May 2014 (3). The contribution of cultural heritage in terms of value creation, skills and jobs, and quality of life is underestimated.

(6)

Cultural heritage is central to the European Agenda for Culture (4) and contributes to its objectives, which are the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, the promotion of culture as a catalyst for creativity, and the promotion of culture as a vital element in the Union's international relations. It is also one of the four priorities for European cooperation on culture for the period 2015-2018, as set out in the current Work Plan for Culture, adopted by the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 25 November 2014 (5).

(7)

The Council, in its conclusions of 21 May 2014, stated that cultural heritage encompasses a broad spectrum of resources inherited from the past in all forms and aspects — tangible, intangible and digital (born digital and digitised), including monuments, sites, landscapes, skills, practices, knowledge and expressions of human creativity, as well as collections conserved and managed by public and private bodies such as museums, libraries and archives. Cultural heritage also includes film heritage.

(8)

Cultural heritage has been forged over centuries by the interaction between cultural expressions of the various civilisations that have populated Europe. A European Year of Cultural Heritage will help to encourage and advance understanding of the importance of the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. One way to achieve such understanding would be through educational and greater public-awareness programmes, in line with the obligations set out in the 2005 Unesco Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, to which the Union and the Member States are party.

(9)

In accordance with Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which the Union and most of the Member States are party, the Parties to the Convention recognise the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life and they are to take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities, inter alia, enjoy access to places for cultural performances or services, such as theatres, museums, cinemas, libraries and tourism services, and, as far as possible, enjoy access to monuments and sites of national cultural importance.

(10)

The European Access City Award has shown that it is both feasible and good practice to make the cultural heritage of cities accessible, in ways that respect its nature and values, for persons with disabilities, elderly people and those with reduced mobility or other types of temporary impairments.

(11)

Cultural heritage plays an important role for community cohesion at a time when cultural diversity is increasing in European societies. Sites that have been awarded the European Heritage Label have a strong European dimension, as they have been selected for their role in European history. Together with the European Capitals of Culture, those sites reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space. Therefore, complementarities with the European Year of Cultural Heritage should be sought. New participatory and intercultural approaches to heritage policies and educational initiatives that attribute equal dignity to all forms of cultural heritage have the potential to increase trust, mutual recognition and social cohesion, as also shown by the international cooperation in the framework of the Council of Europe.

(12)

The role of cultural heritage is also recognised in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (‘2030 Agenda’), which acknowledges global citizenship, cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue as overarching principles of sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda recognises that all cultures and civilizations can contribute to, and are crucial enablers of, sustainable development. Culture is explicitly mentioned in several Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, in particular Goal 11 (cities-heritage), as well as Goal 4 (education), and, in relation to tourism, Goal 8 (sustainable growth) and Goal 12 (consumption patterns).

(13)

The increased recognition at international level of the need to put people and human values at the centre of an enlarged and cross-disciplinary concept of cultural heritage reinforces the need to foster wider access to cultural heritage, inter alia, in light of its positive effects on the quality of life. Such wider access can be achieved by reaching out to different audiences and by increasing accessibility to places, buildings, products and services, taking into account special needs and the implications of demographic change.

(14)

Policies for the maintenance, restoration, conservation, reuse, accessibility and promotion of cultural heritage and related services are primarily national, regional or local responsibilities. Nevertheless, cultural heritage has a clear European dimension which is addressed, in addition to cultural policy, through other Union policies such as education, agriculture and rural development, regional development, social cohesion, maritime affairs, environment, tourism, the digital agenda, research and innovation, and communication.

(15)

The year 2018 has a symbolic and historical importance for Europe and its cultural heritage, as it marks a number of significant events such as the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and of the independence of several Member States as well as the 400th anniversary of the start of the Thirty Years' War. The European Year of Cultural Heritage can therefore offer opportunities to better understand the present through a richer and shared comprehension of the past.

(16)

In order to realise fully the potential of cultural heritage for European societies and economies, the safeguarding, enhancement and management of cultural heritage require effective participatory (i.e. multi-level and multi-stakeholder) governance and enhanced cross-sectoral cooperation, as stated by the Council in its conclusions of 25 November 2014 (6). Such governance and cooperation involve all stakeholders, including public authorities, the cultural heritage sector, private actors and civil society organisations, such as NGOs and organisations in the voluntary sector.

(17)

In addition, in its conclusions of 25 November 2014, the Council invited the Commission to consider presenting a proposal for a European Year of Cultural Heritage.

(18)

In its resolution of 8 September 2015, the European Parliament recommended designating, preferably for 2018, a European Year of Cultural Heritage.

(19)

In its opinion of 16 April 2015 (7), the Committee of the Regions welcomed the call of the Council for consideration to be given to a European Year of Cultural Heritage, stressing its contribution to the attainment of shared goals in the pan-European context.

(20)

Declaring a European Year of Cultural Heritage is an effective way of raising public awareness, disseminating information on good practices, promoting policy debate, research and innovation and improving the collection and analysis of qualitative evidence and quantitative data, including statistics, on the social and economic impact of cultural heritage. By creating an environment for promoting those objectives simultaneously at Union, national, regional and local levels, a greater synergy and a better use of resources can be achieved. In that regard, the Commission should provide timely information to and closely cooperate with the European Parliament, the Council and the Member States, the Committee of the Regions and the bodies and associations active in the field of cultural heritage at Union level. In order to ensure that activities developed for the European Year of Cultural Heritage have a European dimension, Member States are also encouraged to collaborate with each other.

(21)

Cultural heritage is also a field of intervention in several programmes in the area of external relations, mainly, but not exclusively, in the Middle East. The promotion of the value of cultural heritage is also a response to the deliberate destruction of cultural treasures in conflict zones, as highlighted by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Commission in their joint communication of 8 June 2016 entitled ‘Towards an EU strategy for international cultural relations’. It is important to ensure complementarity between the European Year of Cultural Heritage and all external relations initiatives developed within appropriate frameworks. Actions to protect and promote cultural heritage under relevant external relations instruments should, inter alia, reflect the mutual interest associated with the exchange of experiences and values with third countries. The European Year of Cultural Heritage should promote mutual knowledge, respect and understanding of the respective cultures.

(22)

Candidate and potential candidate countries should be closely associated with actions under the European Year of Cultural Heritage. The involvement of countries falling within the scope of the European Neighbourhood Policy and other partner countries should also be sought, as appropriate. Such involvement can be pursued under the relevant frameworks for cooperation and dialogue, particularly in the context of the civil society dialogue between the Union and those countries.

(23)

The safeguarding, conservation and enhancement of Europe's cultural heritage comes under the objectives of existing Union programmes. Therefore, a European Year of Cultural Heritage can be implemented by using those programmes in accordance with their existing provisions and setting funding priorities on an annual or multiannual basis. Programmes and policies in fields such as culture, education, agriculture and rural development, regional development, social cohesion, maritime affairs, environment, tourism, the Digital Single Market Strategy, research and innovation, and communication contribute directly and indirectly to the protection, enhancement, innovative reuse and promotion of Europe's cultural heritage, and can support the European Year of Cultural Heritage in accordance with their respective legal frameworks. National contributions additional to co-financing at Union level, including through flexible funding mechanisms such as public-private partnerships or crowd-funding, can be considered in order to support the objectives of the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

(24)

The financial interests of the Union should be protected through proportionate measures throughout the expenditure cycle, including the prevention, detection and investigation of irregularities, the recovery of funds lost, wrongly paid or incorrectly used and, where appropriate, administrative and financial penalties.

(25)

This Decision lays down a financial envelope for the entire duration of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, which is to constitute the prime reference amount, within the meaning of point 17 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management (8), for the European Parliament and the Council during the annual budgetary procedure.

(26)

Since the objectives of this Decision, namely to encourage the sharing and appreciation of Europe's cultural heritage, raise awareness of common history and values, and reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States given the need for transnational exchange of information and Union-wide dissemination of good practice, but can rather be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 TEU. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,