Madam, - Europe has gone a long way down the road of "growing together" over the past 50 years. The painful historical experiences of a nationalism that led to two world wars and the tense Cold War atmosphere that followed - these spurred us on to make such a journey. The road ahead is not less daunting than the road we have travelled. We must seize the opportunity - ours since 1989, after all - to make a fragmented Europe whole again.
After the last World War, political ideals profoundly shared by the people gave us an enthusiasm for Europe. Now there is talk of "interests". Now the people of Europe have lost sight of "Europe". They feel left out. Today, can we say with any certainty that it is still possible to experience a satisfying, politically solid, spontaneous sense of being a European?
Europe has new work to do. It must create those institutions that are needed and be clear which responsibilities are national and which European. It must make possible a sense of belonging to Europe while maintaining the ties that link one to the land of one's birth.
The essence of a consciousness of common European identity is culture. To protect and promote culture is one of the most important tasks in Europe today.
We appeal therefore to the European Convention to give a prominent place to education and culture in the constitutional treaty that it is drafting. Unity in diversity is the cultural essence of Europe.
A future Europe requires a cultural policy of diversity and affinity, of singularity and commonality, no less deserving of our efforts and our resources than economic and social policies.
That is why we support the efforts of European institutions, civil society organisations, artists and cultural actors who are working to encourage the EU to:
reinforce its social and cultural cohesion by recognising the integral place of education and culture within the preamble to the draft treaty;
confirm its commitment to cooperation in education and culture by maintaining the content of Articles 150 and 151 (which fully endorse subsidiarity) and making both subject to qualified majority voting;
locate education and culture within the framework of "shared competences" rather than an ambiguous category of "supporting actions";
take cultural aspects into account in other policy areas of the Union;
foresee an explicit mandate for promoting cooperation with third countries to promote intercultural understanding in the context of globalisation. - Yours, etc.,
RICHARD VON WEIZSÄCKER,
Former President of Germany;
PRINCESS MARGRIET
of The Netherlands,
President, European Cultural
Foundation, Amsterdam;
INGVAR CARLSSON,
Former Prime Minister
of Sweden;
JACQUES DELORS,
Former President
of the European Commission;
DARIO DISEGNI,
Chairman, European
Foundation Centre;
GARRET FITZGERALD,
Former Taoiseach of Ireland;
BRONISLAW GEREMEK,
Former Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Poland;
ARPAD GOENCZ,
Former President of Hungary;
WIM KOK,
Former Prime Minister
of the Netherlands;
GIOVANNI PIERACCINI,
President, Fondazione
Romaeuropa;
ANDREI PLESU
Former Minister of Culture
and Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Romania;
ELISABETH REHN,
Former Minister
of Defence, Finland.