BRUSSELS — The European Union should dedicate more money to a key culture program that is vital to the bloc’s security, said new Culture Commissioner Glenn Micallef.
In an exclusive first interview with POLITICO, the youngest commissioner among the new crop of 26 said the Creative Europe program, a €2.4 billion initiative to support Europe’s creative and audiovisual industries, should be expanded in the EU’s next seven-year budget.
Talks on the budget, which will run from 2028 to 2034, are heating up, with calls to spend more money on defense and to bolster the bloc’s waning competitiveness. But culture funding should not be overlooked, Micallef argues.
“Culture is part and parcel of our work on democracy and our work on strengthening the Union, including our security in Europe,” he said.
“This is a program that needs to be strengthened and I will continue to make the case for that.”
Micallef cited Ukraine, arguing that Russia is attacking its cultural and heritage sites in an attempt to destabilize the country as a whole.
“If you want to destroy a nation, if you want to completely erase a country, you attack its culture.”
Micallef visited Ukraine earlier this month for a meeting on how to protect Ukraine’s heritage during Russia’s ongoing invasion.
“The night before we crossed the border into Ukraine, a UNESCO world heritage site was destroyed in Odesa, specifically targeted by the Russians,” Micallef said.
Attacks on cultural institutions and artists are happening in EU countries too, Micallef noted, flagging examples in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Portugal.
He refrained from discussing the state of play in any of those countries but said the European Commission could weigh in if needed — also through its annual rule-of-law reports.
“I want to focus on promoting this value of artistic freedom and artistic expression, and we will defend it, of course, wherever there are attacks,” he said.
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