The true ‘EURESCO’? The Council of Europe, transnational networking and the emergence of European Community cultural policies, 1970–90

Abstract

The roots of EU action in the field of culture lie in the 1970s. At the time, the Council of Europe (CoE), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other organizations were already established players in the field. This article analyses the incremental and often haphazard process in which the European Community (EC) became the key organization at the European level by the end of the Cold War. It stresses the role of the EC’s specific governance structure, its considerable financial resources, and its objectives of market integration and expanding powers as drivers of this process, along with selective forms of adaptation of practices first tried out in other forums. Besides scrutinizing general tendencies of inter-organizational exchange during the 1970s and 1980s, the article zooms in on two concrete case studies. For the 1970s, it highlights the debates about cultural heritage and the European Architectural Heritage Year (EAHY) project: although initiated by the CoE, the EAHY became one of the first cases of EC policy import, strongly facilitated by transnational networks. The second case study, for the 1980s, deals with the development of a European audio-visual policy. Here again the CoE took the lead and worked as a laboratory for schemes later adapted by the EC.

Keywords:

• European Community
• Council of Europe
• inter-organizational dynamics
• culture
• architectural heritage
• audio-visual policy

Notes

1. Shore, Building Europe, 44; Sassatelli, Becoming Europeans, 46.

2. For a typology of forms of interaction, see Patel, ‘Provincialising European Union’.

3. CoE, The Council of Europe and Cultural Heritage, 8.

4. See, for example, Brunner, ‘Le Conseil de l’Europe’, 29–46; Calligaro, ‘From “European Cultural Heritage”’.

5. See, as the most recent example, many of the contributions in Falser and Lipp, eds., A Future for Our Past.

6. See, for example, Berghahn, America and the Intellectual Cold Wars.

7. EC, Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community, Article 36.

8. Calligaro, Negotiating Europe, 19–25.

9. Patel, ‘Introduction’.

10. See on differences in governance mechanisms and their consequences for this field Witte, ‘Cultural Linkages’.

11. As examples for this concern, see, for example, from the British perspective FCO 41/1091, The National Archives of the UK (TNA) and from the German perspective Auswärtiges Amt, Vermerk IA1, 23 September 1971, B 21/102271, Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes, Berlin (PAAA); avoiding overlap as a dimension in EC–CoE debates, see CoE, Committee of Ministers, Reports by the Commission of EEC for 1973 and 1974, 9 April 1975, B 21/111682, PAAA.

12. CoE, Statute of the Council of Europe (1949), see online http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/treaties/Word/001.doc (last accessed December 1, 2015); on the wider context, see, for example, Trunk, Europa, 64–81.

13. Brunner, ‘Le Conseil de l’Europe’.

14. CoE, European Cultural Convention (1954), see http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/Treaties/Html/018.htm (last accessed December 1, 2015); on the convention, also see Calligaro, Negotiating Europe, 82–3.

15. See CoE, Consultative Assembly, Document 354 (1955).

16. CoE, Consultative Assembly, Document 1502 (1962) (own translation from French).

17. Hammer, EEC Commission, Rapport de Mission, 7 June 1962, BAC 118/1986, N. 1447, Historical Archives of the European Union, Florence (HAEU) (own translation from French); this situation did not improve much over the next years, see, for example, CoE, CCC, Projet de programme pour 1968 (CCC (68) 9/III), BAC 118/1986, N. 1449, HAEU.

18. CoE, Consultative Assembly/ ECSC, Common Assembly, Joint Meeting, 22 June 1953; CoE, Consultative Assembly, EC, European Parliamentary Assembly, Sixth Joint Meeting, 17 January 1959; on other levels of contact see, for example, EC, European Council, Note, 3 October 1973, EN 457, HAEU.

19. See, for example, Letter Staderini, Euratom, to Benvenuti, CoE, 19 February 1960, BAC 118/1986, N. 1447, HAEU.

20. See, for example, EC, EP, Rapport intérimaire; EP, Committee on Research and Culture, Minutes, 14 September 1966, PEO-18768, HAEU; BAC 3/1978–1126, HAEU. However, there were no formalized links between the EC and UNESCO on these issues, while there were joint working groups in other fields, see, for example, UNESCO, Note Maheu, 6 March 1973, UDC No. 002A8CEC, UNESCO Archives, Paris; also see UNESCO, Report of the Director-General, 28.

21. See, with a summary of this cooperation, Letter Toncic-Sorinj, CoE, to Malfatti, EC, 13 October 1971, BAC 3/1978, 1263, HAEU; see, for example, also Curtis, CoE to President of Euratom, 8 February 1962, BAC 118/1986, N. 1447, HAEU; Letter Sforza, CoE, to Malfatti, EC, 5 July 1971, BAC 3/1978, 1263, HAEU.

22. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 301 (1961).

23. Brossat, La culture européenne, 320–1.

24. UNESCO, Executive Board, Resolutions and Decisions, 30 September 1968.

25. Cameron and Rössler, Many Voices, 1–26.

26. For details, see B 30/69, PAAA; UNESCO, Conférence intergouvernementale; UDC No. 008(4)A06‘72’, UNESCO Archives.

27. CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 589 (1970); CoE, Committee of Ministers, Document 2880 (1971); also see CoE, Consultative Assembly, 21st Ordinary Session, 22–30 January 1970, Official Report of Debates, 783–98; now also Lipp and Falser, ‘Thresholds of Monument Awareness’, 21–60.

28. See, for example, CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Document 2985 (1977).

29. CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 365 (1963); also see CoE, The Council of Europe and Cultural Heritage, 1–148 on other resolutions at the time as well as Fürniß, ‘Die Kampagne’.

30. CoE, Consultative Assembly, Report, Document 2714 (1970).

31. Letter Blumenfeld, CoE, to Scheel, German Foreign Minister, 7 December 1972, B 4/52, PAAA (own translation from German); see, for example, also German Foreign Ministry, Note, 16 March 1970, B 90/1186, PAAA.

32. CoE, EAHY 1975, European Programme of Pilot Projects: Launching Conference, Zürich, 4–7 July 1973 (Strasbourg: CoE, 1973) in AR 1/76, TNA; Aims, Organisation & Activities (Strasbourg: CoE, 1973) in ibid; also see F. Notter, ‘Premier aperçu de l’Année européenne du patrimoine architectural 1975 en Suisse’, Patrimoine 68 (1973): 20–5.

33. UNESCO, the Commission and several INGOs were represented in the preparatory committee, however. UNESCO’s Director-General even gave a speech in Zurich: Address Maheu, 4 July 1973, DG/73/11, UNESCO Archives, and UDC, No. 069:72A8CE, ibid.

34. EC, EP, Document 54 (1974); also see ‘Baroness Elles’, in: Telegraph, 29 October 2009.

35. Grégoire, Vers une Europe, 205–6; Calligaro, Negotiating Europe, 84–5.

36. EC, EP, Debates of the EP, 13–15 May 1974, 13–4; also see C 62/5, 30 May 1974.

37. Official Journal of the EC (OJ), 75/65/EEC.

38. In 1972, the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth report provoked a heated debate. The same year the United Nations contributed to a global discussion of the issue by organizing an international conference on ‘human environment’ in Stockholm. As another initiative, UNESCO adopted its Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage; for the EC’s reasons to engage in this field at the time, also see Patel, ‘Introduction’; Staiger, ‘The European Capitals’.

39. EC, European Commission, Memorandum ‘Pour une action communautaire dans le domaine de la culture’, 11 September 1972, EN 664, HAEU, and EC, Letter Mercereau to Noël, 16 October 1972, ibid.

40. ‘Document on European Identity’ (1973), published in Hill and Smith, eds., European Foreign Policy, 94.

41. Calligaro, ‘European Cultural Heritage’.

42. EC, EP, Document 73 (1973); on his role of linking the two forums, also see CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Document 421 (1979).

43. On this dimension of CoE/EC cultural policy-making during the 1970s and 1980s, see also Interview with Olaf Schwencke, Berlin, 1 July 2015; another indication is the fact that many recommendations in the Consultative Assembly were accepted unanimously.

44. EC, EP, Debates of the EP, Report of the Proceedings, 13–15 May 1974, OJ 13–4; also see C 62/5, 30 May 1974.

45. CoE, Consultative Assembly, Document 2714 (1970).

46. Premoli and Elles were both present at the 20th joint meeting of the CoE’s Consultative Assembly and the EP in 1973, as a space of direct CoE–EC interaction Consultative Assembly of the CoE/EP, 20th Joint Meeting, Attendance List, 14 November 1973, FCO 41/1094, TNA.

47. See, for example, CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 532 (1972); CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 681 (1972); CoE, Consultative Assembly, Document 3183 (1972); CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Document 3522 (1975).

48. CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 589 (1970); CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 681 (1972); CoE, Committee of Ministers, Document 198 (1970); also see Europa Nostra, London Conference: Resolutions, 6–8 July 1972, UDC No. 327.394A01CE06‘68’, UNESCO Archives.

49. Interview with Schwencke.

50. Very clearly in the statement by the CCC’s chairman: CoE, Consultative Assembly, 14th Sitting, 23 September 1973, 446. Technically, Sandys was only a substitute at the Assembly at the time, but he had served as a Representative from 1965 to 1972.

51. Letter Evans, Treasury, to Warburton, DOE, 11 December 1972, T 227/4131, TNA, also see Letter Rippon, DOE, to Patterson, FCO, 24 July 1974, FCO 13/763, TNA; on the Civic Trust, see Aitchison, MacLeod and Shaw, Leisure and Tourism, 146–8; on the EAHY in the UK, see also the uncritical description in Burman and Rodwell, ‘The Contribution’, 262–75.

52. House of Lords, vol. 370, Lords Sitting of 12 May 1976, where Sandys also mentions his discussion with Ortoli; on that, also see CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, 28th Ordinary Session, 3–7 May 1976, Orders of the Day: Minutes of Proceedings, Sitting 6 May 1976. Strasbourg: CoE, 1976, 45–7; on his pleas to strengthen the links to the EC, see, for example, also CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, 22–29 January 1975, vol. VII, Document 3522 (1975).

53. On the wider context, see Mandler, Fall, 388–418.

54. Staiger, ‘The European Capitals’, 19–38.

55. CoE, Consultative Assembly, 14th Sitting, 23 September 1973, 446.

56. CoE, Consultative Assembly Assembly, Document 3017 (1971); CoE, Consultative Assembly, Recommendation 704 (1973), see also, for example, CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 607 (1975); CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 940 (1982).

57. Letter Toncic-Sorinj to Sandys, 24 July 1972, GBR/0014/DSND, 9/14, Churchill Archives Centre (CAC), Cambridge; this has to be seen in the context of Toncic’s reform plans for the CoE, see, for example, Slatcher, FCO to Steward, FCO, 24 August 1971, FCO 13/471, TNA; more generally, FCO 41/1091 & 1092, TNA.

58. CoE, Consultative Assembly, 23 September 1973, 446; also see CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, 30 September 1974.

59. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Document 4214 (1979); UDC No. 069:72A8CE/06, UNESCO Archives.

60. EC, European Council, Aide Mémoire, 10 October 1973, FCO 41/1095, TNA.

61. EPC, Meeting of Directors of Cultural Affairs, 27 Mai 1974, FCO 13/763, TNA; on Germany: German Permanent Representation, Brussels, to German Foreign Ministry, 11 October 1976, B 90/1237, PAAA.

62. EC, Leo Tindemans, Report on European Union, Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 1/76, 12; in general, also see Calligaro, Negotiating Europe, 82–7.

63. TNA, AR 1/76, CoE, EAHY 1975, Aims, Organisation & Activities (Strasbourg: CoE, 1973); Except Discussion CoE, Committee of Ministers, 1973, B 21/1123186, PAAA.

64. Nicolaus Sombart, ‘Paradigma Europarat’: Speech CoE March 1975, in NL 405/130 (Nicolaus Sombart), Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (SBB); on the CoE as club of democracies, see, for example, Nicolaus Sombart, ‘Die Aktualität der Europäischen Kulturkonvention’: Speech CoE July 1982, in NL 405/148.

65. House of Lords, vol. 370, Lords Sitting of 12 May 1976; see, for example, also CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, 26th Ordinary Session, 22–29 January 1975, vol. VII, Document 3522; and the contributions in Falser and Lipp, eds., A Future for Our Past, 349–99.

66. Even if they also saw the Cold War relevance of cultural policy, see, for example, TNA, FCO 13/763, Italian Foreign Ministry, Circular Letter, 23 December 1975.

67. On UNESCO’s role in this and on the pan-European dimension of the 1972 Helsinki conference, see UDC No. 008A10/53(4)5; UDC No. 008(4)A06‘72’ and UDC, No. 069:72A8CE, all in UNESCO Archives.

68. Brunner, ‘Le Conseil de l’Europe’, 44; on the CoE more generally during this period, see Wassenberg, Histoire, 217–301.

69. EC, European Commission, COM(77)560 final, 2 December 1977. Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 6/77 and Grégoire, Vers une Europe, 211.

70. See, for example, EC, EP, Motion for a resolution presented by Mr. Beyer de Ryke on the necessity of an intervention aiming at the protection of the site and monuments of the Acropolis in Athens, 1 October 1981, Doc 1–557/81.

71. Staiger, ‘The European Capitals’; Smith, ‘The Evolution’, 869–95.

72. EC, European Commission, ‘Stronger Community Action’.

73. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 940 (1982); also see the debate in CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Document 4868 (1982).

74. CoE, Committee of Ministers, CM(58)135; CoE, Committee of Ministers, CCC/Ad hoc(62).

75. CoE, Committee of Ministers, CM (62)113, 21–2.

76. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 834 (1978).

77. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Working papers, 7–11 May 1979.

78. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Recommendation 926 (1981); CoE, Committee of Ministers, 70th Session, 29 April 1982, Droits de propriété intellectuelle et distribution par câble de programmes de télévision, Conseil de l’Europe, Dossiers sur les Mass Media, n° 5–1983.

79. EC, EP, Working Documents 1981–82, Document 1–1013/81, 23 February 1982.

80. Ibid.

81. EC, European Commission, COM(83)229 final, Brussels, 25 May 1983, Annex 6, 81–4.

82. EC, EP, COM(84)300 final. Working Documents 1985–86, Document A2–75/85, 5 July 1985; more generally on this point: Witte and Thies, ‘Why Choose Europe’.

83. Ibid.

84. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, 36th Ordinary Session, Official Report, 20th Sitting, 3 October 1984, Speech Oreja, 582.

85. EC, European Commission, Émile Noël, Note de Dossier, 26 October 1984, Entretien avec Monsieur Oreja, Secrétraire Général du Conseil de l’Europe, 9 October 1984 (own translation from French), EN 874, HAEU.

86. CoE, Committee of Ministers, Resolution (85)5, Appendix II, 1985, 20.

87. EC, European Council, Solemn Declaration on European Union, Stuttgart, 19 June 1983, Bulletin of the European Communities, 6/1983, 24–9.

88. See Patel, Cultural Politics.

89. Calligaro, Negotiating Europe, 88.

90. EC, European Commission, Programme of the Commission for 1985. Statement by Jacques Delors, President of the Commission, to the EP, Strasbourg, 12 March 1985. Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 4/85, 52.

91. Calligaro, ‘Florence’, 95–113.

92. EC, European Commission, COM/85/0310 final, points 115–17.

93. EC, European Commission, COM(84)300 final/Part 2, 14 June 1984; EC, European Commission, COM(86)146 final, Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 5/86.

94. Agence Europe n° 2934, 20 March 1986.

95. EC, European Council, Ad hoc Working Party on Economic Questions (broadcasting) on 2, 19 and 20 June 1986, 31 October 1986, 14 and 15 May 1987, CM2 CEE, CEEA – 1.858.17, ACEU.

96. CoE, Steering Committee on the Mass Media, Rapport Comité Directeur sur les moyens de communication de masse relatif à l'audiovisuel et au cinema, 3 May 1986, 19920214/19, ANF.

97. CoE, Secretariat General, Note du Secrétariat Général ‘Préparation de la première conférence ministérielle sur la politique des communications de masse’ (Vienne, 9–10 décembre 1986), 19920214/19, ANF.

98. EC, European Council, Ad hoc Working Party on Economic Questions (broadcasting) on 26 November 1986, CM2 CEE, CEEA – 1.858.17, ACEU.

99. EC, European Council, Ad hoc Working Party on Economic Questions (broadcasting) on 21 October 1987, CM2 CEE, CEEA – 1.858.17, ACEU.

100. CoE, Committee of Ministers, CM(86) 255, 11.

101. EC, European Council, Permanent Representatives Committee, Summary Record of the 1318th Meeting Held in Brussels on 10, 11, 12 and 13 November 1987, CM2 CEE, CEEA – 1.858.17, ACEU; Agence Europe, n° 4708, 26 January 1988, 9.

102. Telex of François Scheer, French Representative at the COREPER, to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, ‘COREPER du 20 janvier 1988’, 21 January 1988, 19900634/206, SGCI 10494, ANF.

103. Schwartz, ‘Fernsehen’, here 8 (own translation from German).

104. Krebber, Europeanisation, 104.

105. See, for example, ‘Réunion informelle des ministres européens chargés de la politique des communications de masse, Vienne, 12–13/04/88: programme de la réunion, délégation française’, 19920214/21, ANF; ‘Radiodiffusion (Télévision sans frontière) et élaboration de directives’, File 521. 5 R, 19900634/206, SGCI 10494, ANF.

106. See, for example, Michel Lummaux, ‘Note à l’attention de Monsieur Berthod. Réunion jointe du Comité Directeur sur les moyens de communication de masse, 25 février 1988, Strasbourg’, 3 March 1988; Bernard Blin, ‘Note sur la réunion informelle des ministres européens sur la politique des communications de masse. Vienne 12–13 avril 1988. Projet de Convention européenne’, 14 April 1988; Telex of Bernard Blin to Michel Berthod, ‘Conseil de l’Europe, 421ème réunion des délégués des ministres. Projet de Convention européenne sur la télévision transfrontière, 7 novembre 1988, Strasbourg’, 8 November 1988, 19920214/21, ANF.

107. Bernard Blin, ‘Note sur la réunion informelle des ministres européens sur la politique des communications de masse. Vienne 12–13 avril 1988. Projet de Convention européenne’, 14 April 1988, 19920214/21, ANF. The French interministerial Secretariat for European Affairs (SGCI) almost literally reproduced Blin’s analysis in a note of July 1988 addressed to Berthod, ‘Directive communautaire sur la radiodiffusion et Convention du Conseil de l’Europe sur le même thème’, 6 juillet 1988. 19900634/206, SGCI 10494, ANF.

108. Telex of Bernard Blin to Michel Berthod, ‘Projet de Convention relatif à la télévision sans frontière’. 16 September 1988, 19920214/22, ANF.

109. Letter of Jacques Delors to Jacques Santer, 10 September 1988, 19900634/206, SGCI 10494, ANF.

110. Krebber, Europeanisation, 10.

111. EC, European Council, Conclusions of the European Council of Rhodes (2–3 December 1988), Bulletin of the European Communities, 12/1988, 10.

112. CoE, Treaty n°132, 5 May 1989.

113. EC, EP, Debates of the EP, Report of the Proceedings, 22–26 May 1989, OJ/C 158, 139.

114. EC, European Council, OJ L 298, 17 October 1989, 23–30.

115. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, Committee On Culture And Education, 0AS/Cult (40) 45.

116. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly, 40th Session, Recommendation 1098 (1989) on the East-West audio-visual co-operation, 2 February 1989.

117. Le Monde, 15 April 1989, 2.

118. EC, European Commission, Note d’information de M. Dondelinger, ‘La politique audiovisuelle entre Rhodes et Strasbourg. Résultats et perspectives (communication de M. Dondelinger en accord avec M. Pandolfi et M. Bangemann)’, SEC(89)2017, 23 November 1989, FDE 286, HAEU; ‘Un an de politique audiovisuelle communautaire. Bilan et perspectives pour l’avenir, communication de M. Dondelinger en accord avec les membres du groupe Audiovisuel’, SEC(91)52, 31 January 1991, ibid.

119. Humphreys, ‘EU Audiovisual Policy’, 239.

120. Baer, ‘L’exception culturelle’, 5 (own translation from French).

121. Humphreys, ‘EU Audiovisual Policy’, 239.

122. Kaiser and Patel, ‘Multiple Connections in European Cooperation’.

123. Simultaneously, France was very active on related issues in UNESCO, see UNESCO, Note de La Rochefoucauld to Pouchpa Dass, 1 February 1974, UDC No. 008A10/53(4)5, UNESCO Archives.