Culture, dignity and freedom

A clear message to the “last European dictator” Alexander Lukashenko: that’s how the decision taken by the European Parliament to award the Sakharov Prize 2006 to the leader of the opposition in Belarus, Alexander Milinkevich, was interpreted in Strasbourg. Last week’s plenary session of the EP was full of events and commemorations, and a number of important issues were on the order of the day, including the first reading of the Budget for 2007 and a debate with the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet. SUPPORT FOR CULTURE. The EP first of all gave the go-ahead to some initiatives in the cultural sector: the Media programme, the Culture programme and the Programme of action in the field of education. The first of these deals with the audio-visuals industry and, according to the rapporteur, German MEP RUTH HIERONYMI , “contains references to the importance of the European cinema for intercultural dialogue, linguistic diversity and the principles of human dignity, equality and non-discrimination”. The provision, aimed at fostering artistic production in this field, has a budget of 671 million euros for the period 2007-2013. The aim of the Culture programme, on the other hand, is to “promote the mobility of people working in the cultural sector”, and “encourage the transnational circulation of works of art and cultural products”. The programme will receive some 400 million euros in the next seven years. Lastly the Programme for education and training, which will have an endowment of 7 billion euros, “is destined – according to the German MEP DORIS PACK – to replace and renew the existing programmes, such as Erasmus and Leonardo da Vinci”. The programme “intends to promote exchanges and cooperation between the systems of education and training to enable them to become a benchmark of quality at the world level”. PROTECTING IMMIGRANT WOMEN. The EP then approved the report of Greek MEP RODI KRATSA-TSAGAROPOULOU on the condition of immigrant women in the EU. In this case the Parliament recommends “better social services” and language courses “to facilitate the integration of migrants in society and in the labour market”. It also urges member states to “reject all forms of cultural and religious relativism that could violate their fundamental rights”, intimating it would punish those responsible for genital mutilations and forced marriages and maintain the illegality of polygamy. On the other hand, the report approved by the EP explains that “integration is a two-way process that presupposes both the willingness of immigrant women to assume their responsibility for integration, and the willingness of EU citizens to accept and integrate them”. Much more debated, and finally approved with a very narrow majority (321 in favour, 311 against, 24 abstentions), was a Resolution on the peace process in Spain, with which the EP condemns violence and supports the fight against terrorism in the Basque lands being conducted by the government in Madrid. THE HUNGARIAN UPRISING. During its session of 25 October, the Parliament welcomed Hungarian President LÁSZLÓ SÓLYOM for a commemoration of the popular uprising of 1956 (a resolution on the question was approved on the following day). “It is significant and encouraging to see that today the whole of Europe is paying its own tribute to Hungary”, declared Sólyom in his speech. “The heroic struggle of 1956 brought my country appreciation and support. Those events constituted a first blow against the Soviet system” and “people started to place the Communist ideology in question”. The President concluded by declaring that “the real reason for this commemoration is the fact that today Hungary is a free and sovereign State that can join international organizations, including the European Union”. THE PRIZE TO MILINKEVICH. Lastly, the communication announcing the award of the Sakharov Prize to Alexander Milinkevich reached Strasbourg. The award of the European Parliament goes each year to persons or organizations that “campaign for freedom of thought” and “act against oppression, intolerance and injustice” in every part of the world. There were three candidates for the 2006 Prize: the Bielorussian scientist Milinkevich, the Lebanese journalist and politician Ghassan Tueni and “all those who rebel against hostage-taking in Colombia”. According to the EP, Milinkevich, the winner, campaigns “against the violation of human rights and civil liberties and for respect of the rules that are at the basis of democracy”; “he is at the head of the peaceful resistance in a country in which a totalitarian regime holds power”. He had been a candidate in the last presidential elections, won by Lukashenko. The Prize will be presented to him during the parliamentary session in December.