EU High-Level Conference on Cultural Heritage in Brussels

On June 26, 2018, the European Parliament hosted a High-Level Conference titled 'Cultural Heritage in Europe: Bridging Past and Future' in Brussels, organized by President Antonio Tajani in collaboration with the Committee on Culture. The event gathered political figures and cultural leaders to reaffirm the centrality of culture to the European project. Speakers included musician Jean-Michel Jarre, conductor Daniel Barenboim, composer Ezio Bosso, chef Thierry Marx, photographer and designer Mathilde de L'Ecotaise, filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu, Bozar director Paul Dujardin, ICOM's France Desmarais, Louvre curator Guillaume Kientz, and UNESCO Deputy Director Xing QU. The conference was part of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage, which featured around 8,000 events across all 28 EU member states. Three thematic panels addressed cultural heritage and European identity, preservation and promotion, and innovation and economic potential. Barenboim warned against nationalism, stating 'the false narrative of current events cannot be our Zeitgeist.' Bosso moved the audience by describing musicians as inherently European. The conference followed the European Culture Forum in Milan (December 2017) and the European Cultural Heritage Summit in Berlin (June 18-24, 2018). A future summit on 'Education and Culture' was scheduled for November 17, 2018, in Gothenburg, where the EU plan for culture and heritage was to be launched.