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Abstract
This article discusses the creative and cultural policies that are developed on a European cross-border scale. It provides a comparative case study of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, located on the French–Spanish eastern border and the Greater Region between Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and France. The analysis is based on the concept of cultural development, which is related to Euroregions to emphasize the uses of culture, identity and creative resources in strategies of territorial attractiveness and institutional capacity-building. The analysis then shows how the dynamics of cultural development concretely impact Euroregional policies: implications, or even strengthening, of arts and creativity in cross-cutting policies—tourism and sustainable development, promotion of cultural diversity and the human dimension of development. Furthermore, these dynamics underline the contribution of cultural policy to the construction of territoriality, and subsequently the contribution of Euroregions to the territorial and cultural construction of Europe.
Acknowledgements
Translation carried out with the support of UMR PACTE CNRS and Pierre-Mendès University France – Grenoble II.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Notably through the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation between Territorial Communities or Authorities of 1981, known as the Madrid Convention.
2. Since 2006, Aragon has suspended its participation to the Euroregion.
3. This legal status was created in 2006 by EU law to facilitate and promote cross-border cooperation. Regulation EC n° 1082/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 5 July 2006.
4. Initially, Agenda 21, or Action 21, is an action plan for the twenty-first century founded on sustainable development and adopted in the framework of the United Nations organization by 173 governments during the earth summit held in Rio in 1992. It calls on local authorities to take steps to implement the plan locally—local Agenda 21—in particular through participatory mechanisms. The representative interregional organization “United Cities and Local Governments” (UCLG), which unites cities worldwide, is at the origin of the Agenda 21 project for culture, adopted in 2004 at the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona, which is also the headquarters of the UCLG.
5. “Community” is used here in “relation to the European Union”, excluding of course a context or remarks indicating another use of the term.
6. In Lisbon in March 2000, Heads of State and Government of the EU fixed a strategy for 2010, aiming to make Europe “the most competitive and the most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”. The Gothenburg European Council in June 2001 expanded this strategy to protect the environment and create a sustainable development model. Although, this agenda has been a failure in achieving its objectives, in late 2010 the EU adopted a new “Europe 2020” strategy for “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”.
7. (Ref. 2011/C 175/01).
8. Cf. also La ville créative: concept marketing ou utopie mobilisatrice? Special dossier, “L'Observatoire. La revue des politiques culturelles”, n°36 hiver 2009–2010: http://www.observatoire-culture.net
9. Available at http://www.euroregio.eu (accessed 27 January 11).
10. Between the French regions of the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, and Ligurie, Piémont and the Aoste Valley in Italy.
11. Interview with an expert on European cultural policies, July 2009.
12. In the two main fields, but also in the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion in the Franco-Italian border and the Eurometropole Franco-Belgian Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai.
13. “La Voix du Nord” of 25 October 2008.
14. Catalan village with vacation ideas for all, representation of castellers (human towers), medieval folk shows and parade of traditional Catalan characters and figures, gastronomic tasting and sale of local products, etc.
15. By analogy with the “Blue Banana” of Europe, the concept of “golden banana” refers to the coastal strip between the Spanish Levant and the Eastern Alps, from Valence to Genoa.
16. The consultation took place from October 2008 to February 2009. Contributions, almost 400 are available on http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy (accessed 03 March 12).
17. http://www.documentsdartistes.org/artistes/merian/repro.html (accessed 03 March 12). André Mérian also worked on the transformation of the Toulouse suburbs after the explosion of the AZF factory.
18. Project developed by the cultural operators Caza d'Oro (Midi-Pyrénées), Casa d'Art i Natura (Catalonia) and Les Isards (Languedoc-Roussillon).
19. To resume the denomination of the intellectual movement initiated by the writer and poet Kenneth White. In reference to this movement, Saule-Sorbé (Citation2000, p. 90) coined the term “geo-poetic” to designate the geographical dimension of the creative process
20. Cf. seminar on “La diplomàcia cultural. Reflexions i propostes des de Catalunya“. Barcelona, 2–4 December 2009.
21. Participation of Estanislau Vidal-Folch during the Luxembourg meeting of the European Association of Towns and Regions of greater Europe for culture, 12 and 13 October 2007.
22. “Dimensions et perspectives culturelles des eurorégions”. Roundtable conference organized by the Culture Department of the Rhône-Alpes region. Avignon, 12 July 2009.
23. During a speech in front of the youth wing of her own political party in October 2010: “Angela Merkel: German multiculturalism has 'utterly failed'”, The Guardian, Sunday, October 17, http://www.guardian.co.uk (accessed 3 December 2012).