Reinventing Europe – Cultural Dimensions of Widening and Deepening

125th Bergedorf Round Table Reinventing Europe – Cultural Dimensions of Widening and Deepening January 24th–26th, 2003, Elb Lounge Hamburg CONTENT Picture Documentation 1 Participants 18 Summary 19 Protocol Welcome 21 I. History and Reality of European Culture 23 II. Tasks of Cultural Policy in the Context of Europe’s Widening and Deepening 59 III. Europe’s Cultural Role in the World 89 Annex Participants 125 “Völkertafel” 132 Recommended Literature 134 Glossary 135 Index 149 Previous Round Tables 154 The Körber-Foundation 173 Acknowledgements, Project Information, Imprint 174 INITIATOR Dr. Kurt A. Körber CHAIR Otto von der Gablentz, Ambassador (ret.), President of Europa Nostra, The Hague SPEAKERS Prof. Dr. Hélène Ahrweiler, Danuta Glondys, President, European University, Paris Director, Villa Decius, Krakow Prof. Dr. Üstün Ergüder, Dr. Ursula Keller, Director, Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul Director, Literaturhaus Hamburg Monika Griefahn MdB, Dr. Bernhard Maaz, Chairwoman, Parliamentary Cultural Committee, Curator of the Old National Gallery, Berlin Berlin Doris Pack MEP, Prof. Yudhishthir Raj Isar, European Parliament, Strasbourg/Brussels Independent Scholar and Consultant, Paris Prof. Dr. Ugo Perone, Hywel Ceri Jones, Director, Cultural Department of the Italian Embassy, Executive Chairman, European Policy Centre, Brussels Berlin Prof. Dr. Karl Schlögel, Jan Roß, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder DIE ZEIT, Berlin Dr. Gary Smith, Arne Ruth, Director, American Academy, Berlin Journalist, Sundbyberg Gijs de Vries, Prof. Dr. Johano Strasser, Member of the European Convention, The Hague Author, President, PEN Germany, Berg Dr. Levin von Trott zu Solz, Bergedorf Round Table, Berlin PARTICIPANTS Hortensia Völckers, Director, German Federal Cultural Foundation, Jean-Baptiste Cuzin, Halle/Saale Ministry of Culture and Communication, Paris Gottfried Wagner, Catherine David, Secretary General, European Cultural Foundation, Director, Witte de With, center for contemporary art, Amsterdam Rotterdam Dr. Klaus Wehmeier, Ekaterina Degot, Körber-Foundation, Hamburg Curator, Moscow Dr. Richard von Weizsäcker, Raina A. Mercedes Echerer MEP, President of Germany (ret), Berlin European Parliament, Strasbourg/Brussels Christian Wriedt, Prof. Manfred Eichel, Körber-Foundation, Hamburg Chief Cultural Correspondent, ZDF, Berlin Prof. Dr. Michal Gehler, Institute for Contemporary History, University of Innsbruck 18 SUMMARY The 125th Bergedorf Round Table documented here, “Reinventing Europe—Cul- tural Dimensions of Widening and Deepennig,” took place in Hamburg from Jan- uary 24th to 26th 2003. For a day and a half, a select group of politicians, working artists, patrons, academics, and journalists from many countries and every part of Europe explored a wide spectrum of issues dealing with the past, present, and future of European culture and its political significance. At the beginning of the 21st century, Europe has transcended its past divisions and, according to the conference’s working thesis, will be redefined, and indeed, reinvented. While the Round Table was convening, the European Convention was immersed in debating issues of cultural policy ranging from a reference to God in the future European constitution’s preamble to support and subsidies for culture, and the war of words in the forefront of the second Gulf conflict was at its height, both across the Atlantic and within Europe. Only a few days earlier, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had sparked international controversy by drawing a line between “old” and “new” Europe, thus lending the discussions in Hamburg an additional urgency. The first part of the Round Table established an extensive definition of the foundations of European culture, and therefore of Europe’s image of its place in the world. Participants drew on their personal expertise to lay down both histor- ical and philosophical parameters, as well as artistic and political aspects. Even before turning to what “European culture” is and means, participants were already hotly debating where there was such a thing at all in these times of cultural globalization. Is culture a comprehensive term for describing all lifestyles and -structures, therefore including politics and business, or is it the exclusive domain of the arts? How do the arts behave toward society, and vice-versa? What continuing significance do those traditions have that we associate with places such as Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome? Is Europe a definite space or is it an idea? A dazzling array of questions, facts, and opinions was put forward. The Round Table’s second session built on these very basic foundations to identify the challenges facing cultural policy in the enlargement and consolida- tion of the European Union. There was broad agreement that EU enlargement rep- resented an enormous chance, after decades of heavy emphasis on European political and economic union, to push forward Europe’s cultural dimension as well. Emerging from the disintegration of ideological divisions between East and West, the cultural Europeanization of Europe could prove to be the defining project of the coming decades, especially to remedy certain symptoms of crisis in contem- 19 porary societies. The discussion made clear that, in saturated western Europe, other priorities exist than in the continent’s (south)eastern part, where cultural objectives along national lines are being pursued to repair decades of ideological predominance. The participants examined the whole spectrum of challenges and options facing cultural policy at the “European” level (Article 125 of the EU Treaty, Programs such as Erasmus, etc.) as well as in a context connecting societies and overstepping borders. There was consensus that culture in the comprehensive sense of the word would play a central part in the process of European integration. The concluding section of the 125th Bergedorf Round Table was devoted to Europe’s relation to the rest of the globe. Spurred by several “outsiders’” view- points, participants determined that seeking an exclusive definition of European identity was fraught with ambivalent factors. One unanimous conclusion reached was that Europe’s experience of diversity would be a valuable asset in helping fos- ter stability and cultural enrichment in other regions of the world. Conversely, it was agreed that consolidating European integration in the cultural field was also essential, not least because this would permit a responsible European role in the newly emerging world order. Cultural aspects of Turkey’s possible future mem- bership in the EU were discussed intensively and regarded as a test case for the question of how Europe’s self-conception could continue to develop. The Körber- Foundation’s attempt to use the conference’s structure, topics, and selection of participants to unify the traditionally fragmented discourse among working artists and policymakers, and thereby promoting a productive balance between the two sides, was roundly praised as one particularly fruitful aspect of this Round Table. 20 PROTOCOL Welcome The topic of “Reinventing Europe—Cultural Dimensions of Wi- von Weizsäcker dening and Deepening” is one I consider both thoroughly sti- mulating and increasingly important, both politically and histor- ically. European culture is abundant, yet occasionally one gets the impression that it requires more effort to give the people of Europe a sense of European culture as a crucial aspect of identity: namely of cultural unity in great diversity, as it has always been the case. This is the subject we will be grappling with and I am pleased that Mr. von der Gablentz has consented to lead us through the discussion. Explanatory note: This Protocol contains an edited and authorized version of the participants’ oral contributions. 21 I. History and Reality of European Culture To begin with, I would like to explain why we chose the topic of “reinventing von der Gablentz Europe.” We wanted to discuss three subject fields subsumed by this quite chal- lenging title. The first of these is the history and reality of European culture; sec- ondly, the role of culture in rebuilding Europe, a project we have launched for the 21st century, and the tasks of culture within this context. And finally, how do European culture and its consciousness present themselves in a rapidly changing world? Is culture part of Europe’s way of asserting itself? Permit me to make some additional remarks on our title, “reinventing Eu- founding a new Europe rope.” The German word “begründen” (to invent / found) has a double meaning. It and debating its purpose stands both for “establishing something new” as well as providing reasons for an action or development. I see both taking place in Europe today. In recent years, we have all, and I am glad to say this includes people at the political level, adopted the sense that we are in a process of building a new and different Europe that, from the current expansion round to a point in, let us say, ten years, will result in upwards of 30 member states, stretching into the Balkans and Turkey. This Europe will be different, as we are living in a different, rapidly evolving society that places new demands on Europe. Moreover, this Europe will find itself in a different world compared to that which saw the process of European integration germinate dur- ing the 1950s. As in the beginning of the integration process, questions about the purpose of this development have to be answered anew. The differences today are that a truly European

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