Jan Figel

By: Svetlana Dicheva, Bulgarian National Radio

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Jan Figel, European Education and Culture Commissioner, met Bulgarian intellectuals in Goethe institute in Sofia

"Money is important for Europe but not so much", said Jan Figel, European Commisssioner in charge of culture, education, training and multilangualism in his speech given at Goethe institute in Sofia last week. "Culture creates conditions for the manifestation of human dignity", he added. According to him it is easier to destroy material walls instead of walls in human mentality.

Berlin in Germany is a symbol of European unity, that's why the German conference dedicated to European cultural policy "Soul for Europe" (26-27 November 2004) is so important. If there is no solidarity in Europe, the continent will not exist. The European unity must be based on culture and now it is the precise moment for Europe to concentrate on cultural issues. The European commission has the idea to declare 2008 European Year for

intercultural dialogue. Multicultural relations must be transformed into intercultural relations. If Europe is able to produce cultural values, it must be competent and persistent enough to export them abroad. Jan Figel told the audience that the portion of the European budget for culture is too tiny - only 35 million Euro by a year and he would be glad if it increases twofold. In the year 2010 only in Germany the cities with the status "European capital of culture" will be 10, in Hungary - 12.

 Bulgaria has to benefit from these opportunities being at that time member of EU. Meglena Kuneva, minister of European Affairs who had presented Bulgaria at the Berlin conference, was

straightforward:"Europe must show transparently that it is interested not only in cows but in culture and cultural heritage as well. The President of European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso in Berlin drew the attention to the fact that culture is underestimated in spite of being the sphere in which Europe is

concurrent. Culture is a model for European integration. The Berlin conference made the decision that a special cultural chart must be elaborated." According to Kuneva the participants had agreed to promote the idea of raising the financial contribution about culture of every European citizen from 7 to 70 cents. This idea had been supported by the Cultural Commission in European

Parliament in the end of January.

Some Bulgarian intellectuals drew special attention to some serious problems of Bulgarian culture. Ivan Krastev, political analyst, gave emphasis to the risk for the cultural dialogue to be dissipated in different groups of people united by different interests:"We have the naive understanding that our societies are more open than never before. Unfortunately the new media and the new cultural activity using the new technologies don't result in openness. People do tend to speak less with somebody who doesn't share their opinion. We continue to live in small closed groups sharing the same ideas and the same prejudices". The scholar Ivailo Znepolski put the stress upon the discrepancy between the traditional Bulgarian culture and the culture linked to universal models."What is it European cultural policy? Does it exist? Why its existence isn't evident?", asked Raimond Wagenstein, chairman of the Union of Bulgarian publishers. He reminded the miserable conditions in the field of book publishing because of the high taxes upon books. 50 percent of Bulgarians don't buy books because they consider book prices too high. There are many stupid regulations in educational system about the writing and editing of new textbooks. The criteria for the approval of new textbooks are too vague. The artist Jara Bubnova from the Institute for contemporary art underlined the

achievements of Bulgarian painters despite the lack of state support. She expressed the hope that the state will start financing projects instead of institutions in the near future. Iara Bubnova launched the idea of creating Balkan cultural foundation with European and public resourses which would support cultural projects on the Balkans. Theatre director Iavor Gardev expressed the opinion that the thing that misses most in Europe is the

"physical closeness". "Europe is united virtually but not

physically. Information does exist but communication doesn't", he concluded.

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