One week after the attacks in Paris, Ministers for Culture of the European Union, the Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and the President of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament today released a statement of solidarity for the victims of what they deemed "a wake-up call".
"We wish to express our solidarity with the victims and their loved ones, and with the French people as a whole," the statement read, before citing the violence as an attempt "to disrupt our ways of life, our beliefs and our freedoms".
The statement continued: "One of the foremost responses which Europe should provide to intolerance, xenophobia, obscurantism, fanaticism of all kinds and radicalisation lies in culture", stating that the concept "embodies a certain idea of freedom, diversity, living together and openness towards others". Culture was referred to as the key facet in what makes humans citizens and an important tie for bringing people together.
The statement, signed by 31 EU Ministers of Culture and senior Representatives of EU institutions, concluded by stating "We [...] vow to strongly uphold these ideals and to combat barbarism and crime with a renewed ambition for culture in Europe, serving a shared horizon we now need more than ever".
Photo by Biance Dakheti/Flickr
