Has EU helped or hindered Scottish culture?

In view of the upcoming European Parliament elections on 22 May, The European Parliament Information Office in Edinburgh held a REACT-style event on 24 January 2014, on the eve of Burns' Night, at the Scottish National Gallery. The event took place as part of the four-phase ACT.REACT.IMPACT campaign launched by the European Parliament in the run-up to the Elections focusing on the topic of Quality of Life.

Per Johansson, the recently appointed head of the European Parliament Information Office in Edinburgh, began the night as he addressed the audience of around 130 people. Mr Johansson emphasised the importance of the upcoming European Parliament elections in May and the Act. React. Impact. campaign. He reminded the audience that the European Parliament is the only European institution whose members are directly elected by the citizens.

Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and broadcaster, was joined by three distinguished guests and representatives of Scottish culture both on a local and international level.

Professor Richard Demarco, CBE, Scottish artist and promoter of the arts, Dr Donald Smith, playwright, novelist, performance poet and director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre and Dr Margaret A Mackay, Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh's Celtic and Scottish Studies department.

Andrew Neil helped break the ice between the audience and the panel with a few jokes in a warm Scottish style, before continuing with a reflection on the EU's role in Scottish culture in the past and looking ahead at what the future might bring. He wondered whether EU funds for culture are being spent in the best possible way. A quick show of hands in the room showed that most people needed no convincing and believed the EU had had a positive impact on Scottish culture.

Background

The panel discussion was organized with the support of the European Commission Office in Scotland.

This event was streamed online on the Huffington Post UK website. Discussion on Twitter was facilitated under #ReactScotland. The full event can be viewed here.

The EU created a Cultural Programme from 2007-2013 with a total budget of €400m the programme co-financed 300 different cultural actions per year. This initiative has been established to enhance the cultural area shared by Europeans, which is based on a common cultural heritage, through the development of cooperation activities among cultural operators from eligible countries, with a view to encouraging the emergence of European citizenship.

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