"The European Cultural Season is meant to emphasize the creative vitality of European cultures as well as the identity power of a heritage which is largely in common". The initiative is by the future French presidency of the European Union, which is starting from 1st July. In the six months in which the French government is presiding over the 27 countries, it intends to propose a series of activities connected with each other, through which the community partners will be able to propose the best aspects of their cultural, artistic and creative heritages. The details of the "Season" haven’t been defined, yet, but the proposal was made known at the same time with the presentation of the presidency site (www.eu2008.fr). In the same Web space presented during the summit going on in Brussels the calendar of the semester is also present, including several significant appointments. On 1st July, President Nicolas Sarkozy is meeting the European Union Commission for showing his programme, marked by the institutional problem and by the question of the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. On 10th July, Sarkozy is in Strasbourg to present the programme at the European parliament. On 13th July, the Mediterranean summit is taking place in Paris. An extraordinary summit is scheduled on 15th and 16th October, while the winter summit is taking place on 11th and 12th December.
