The memory and the future

It “will bring Europe’s history alive for everyone, but especially young people, and will thereby help promote an awareness of European identity.” European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, confirmed the objectives of the “House of European History” which he called for during his installation speech of February 13, 2007. After two years’ time, the project is making its first official steps with the finalization of a Scientific Committee and a Governing Board. Europe, idea and identity. The European Parliament’s Bureau unanimously endorsed the project drawn up by an expert-committee of nine scholars, academicians and museum experts, from nine different countries. The report titled “Conceptual basis for the House of European History” states: “one of the key objectives of the House of European History is to enable Europeans of all generations to learn more about their own history and, by so doing, to contribute to a better understanding of the development of Europe, now and in the future. The House of European History should be a place in which the European idea comes alive”. The Home is planned to be headquartered in Brussels and will be operative in 2014. President Poettering made known that the EU-Parliament is “currently examining the most appropriate seat in cooperation with EU’s and Belgium’s authorities”. No data has yet been disclosed regarding the appropriation of funds in the budget. An “interactive centre”. The House of History “will be a modern exhibition, documentation and information centre”. According to the project, promoted by the 27-Assembly in cooperation with other EU institutions, the initiative will house exhibitions “with a display area of up to 4000 sq.m”. In addition, the creation of an information centre is being proposed in which “visitors can obtain more detailed material about European history and current affairs”. “Our purpose is address the history of the continent, EU-Parliament Vice-President Miguel Angel Martìnez, tasked with the project’s implementation, told SIR. “Special attention will be devoted to recent historical events, i.e. the two World Wars, and on the integration process” of the past sixty years. “We believe its vibrant activity will further the promotion of research, conferences and training courses”. “It is not a museum in the traditional sense. Rather, it is planned to be a place where all visitors in Brussels will have the possibility of expanding their historical knowledge while supplying data on European identity and its multifaceted cultures and histories”.Addressed to the youth. The Euro-Parliament’s Culture and Education Commission equally granted its full support to the idea. MEP Katerina Batzeli, who is also the Commission’s President, declared in a note that the commitment for the establishment of the House of History coincides with EU’s priority target “of promoting peace and understanding between European peoples”. Batzeli remarked that “this project requires the appropriate synthesis of national histories” thus leading to the erection of “an integrated dimension of European history”. Hence the request that national histories and a common intercultural vision be “fully represented”. The Parliament’s Commission made a series of proposals regarding the House’s realization, pointing out that themes, languages, tools, information and public awareness initiatives will grant top priority to the young generation.Questions for Europe’s future. The “Conceptual basis” reaffirms the basis factors for the House’s success that include: the objective portrayal of history; academic independence; the institutional independence of the House; multilingualism; free access. The permanent exhibition will be enriched with “chronologically based narrative for visitors. However, “the permanent exhibition will not portray the individual histories of Europe’s states and regions one after another, but will instead focus on European phenomena”. “It should be borne in mind that the diversity of Europe is its defining feature”. The nine-expert Committee that drew up the Home’s conceptual guideline raised the question regarding Europe’s future. “The future of the European Union remains open. There is no clear objective in sight, nor is there any agreement on where the EU’s borders should lie”. For this reason, “the closing section of the exhibition is intended merely to throw up questions, so as to make clear to visitors how open the situation is”. Follow a number of questions regarding “integration”, further “enlargement”, the “Lisbon Treaty” and on the “democratic deficit” separating citizens from Community institutions.