• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • Current Areas of Action
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / News / EU/GATS/Cultural Diversity: Regions rally behind Jacques Chirac

EU/GATS/Cultural Diversity: Regions rally behind Jacques Chirac

4 February, 2003 By Editor

The AER welcomes the European Parliament decision in favour of cultural diversity
Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Share this!

Strasbourg, 4 February 2003

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) supports the recent proposal of French President Jacques Chirac, who argued for the adoption of an international Convention on Cultural Diversity. For the South-Tyrolean Minister Bruno Hosp, chairman of AER’s Culture and Education Committee, the French initiative reiterates the demands of the 2002 Brixen Declaration of European Regional Ministers in charge of Culture and Education. “The Regions are strongly opposed submitting culture, media and education to unlimited commercial interests and liberalisation as pursued by GATS.”

The Regions insist on exclusion of these sectors, predominantly public services, from the ongoing GATS-negotiations and are critical of the EU-Trade Commissioner’s pressure on the member states for more offers and requests for liberalisation. The AER is also prepared to fight against attempts by the Commissioner Viviane Reding which would make culture more than a “matter of assistance” (domaine d’appui) of the European level.

Bruno Hosp also called on the members of the EU-Convention to resist all attempts to introduce qualified majority voting in the decision making on culture, media and education in the new Constitutional Treaty… The Regions see in the unanimity vote as an effective safeguard against further commercialisation of culture and education. Bruno Hosp concluded: “The exclusive competence for culture, media and education should remain the prerogative of the member states or, as it is in some cases, of the regions. This competence and the principle of unanimity vote should be comprehensive and not be restricted simply for matters of international commercial Agreements such as GATS.”

For more information: [email protected]

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Filed Under: News, Vice-Presidency for Institutional affairs Tagged With: Culture, Education, Institutional affairs

← Assembly of European Regions (AER) in favour of peaceful solution to Iraq-crisis European Constitution: regions express some reservations on the first draft →

More articles on this topic

A more efficient implementation of environmental policies through the regions
AER visit to Northern Italy: another successful field mission
AER Delegation Northern Italy
AER Delegation visit to Northern Italy
The Assembly of European Regions and the Tunisian Ministry for Regional Development reach an agreement on regionalization and employment Tunis (TN), 13th May 2011
The Assembly of European Regions and the Tunisian Ministry for Regional Development reach an agreement on regionalization and employment
AER meeting in instanbul
For European Regions, the opening of a satellite office in Turkey answers a necessity

AER. Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985.

Follow our newsletter!




View previous campaigns.


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • YOUTHopia: Where Cohesion Gets Real For the Next Generation
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • MEET: Mobilise Europe = Engage Together
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in