The EU presents expert recommendations on safeguarding cultural heritage in Ukraine
The Commission-led expert group’s recommendations were presented during the event “Resilience Through Culture: The EU's Support for the Ukrainian Cultural Sector”.
On 19 November in Brussels, the event “Resilience Through Culture: The EU's Support for the Ukrainian Cultural Sector”, was organised by Goethe Institute with the support and the participation of the European Commission).
The event saw the participation of the Ukrainian Deputy Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mr Andrii Nadzhov, newly elected MEPs, EU Member States, as well as Ukrainian and European civil society organisations.
Participants discussed three main topics:
- the role of Ukrainian cultural and creative sectors in wartime.
- EU’s support to Ukraine’s cultural and creative sectors.
- How best to safeguard Ukrainian cultural heritage.
Recommendations of the European Commission-led Expert Group on “Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Ukraine”
The event also released publicly the recommendations of the European Commission Expert Group on Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Ukraine.
This group was set up in June 2023 in line with the political mandate given to the European Commission by the EU Member States in the EU Workplan for Culture 2023-2026.
26 experts, including 6 Ukrainians, met four times since 2023 to identify best practices and formulate recommendations in four thematic areas:
- recognizing the value of cultural heritage
- risk management and preparedness
- documentation, monitoring and data collection
- recovery of cultural heritage”
Their recommendations are addressed to the European Commission, the Ukrainian national, regional and local authorities, as well as civil society organisations.
The EU remains committed to supporting Ukraine’s culture and cultural heritage
The European Commission has already invested more than €35 million in support of Ukraine’s cultural and creative sectors since the start of the Russian war of aggression more than two years ago. Half of this funding is dedicated to the House of Europe project, managed by the EU Delegation in Kyiv and implemented by the Goethe-Institut.
The European Commission recently published a second €5 million call dedicated to Ukraine’s cultural and creative sectors under its Creative Europe programme. The action will finance three projects with the following objectives:
- supporting Ukrainian artists and cultural organisations in Ukraine and other Creative Europe countries
- fostering access to culture and cultural heritage for displaced people in Ukraine or Creative Europe countries
- preparing the post-war recovery of the Ukrainian cultural and creative sectors