"Culture should play a strategic part in the European agenda. It is a key factor for the success of continental integration, since it is intrinsically bound to our sense of identity": Josè Manuel Durao Barroso, president of the EU Commission, is to meet in Brussels tomorrow 18 cultural personalities from EU countries, "to talk of the promotion of European culture and identity". Barroso will be assisted by Jan Figel’, in charge of the Education, Training and Culture Department of the EU Executive Committee. The celebrities that will come to Berlaymont, where the Commission is based, will include opera singer Barbara Hendricks, writers Amin Maalouf, Dorata Ilczuk and Tzvetan Todorov, philosopher José Gil, Jérôme Clement, director of the international TV channel "Arte", Vicente Todoli, Director of the Tate Modern Art Gallery, Yorgos Loukos, Director of Athens Festival. Barroso would like the meeting "to join the efforts of the European cultural community and the Commission", considering the latter allocates 35 million euros a year to its cultural program. One of the most outstanding items on the agenda is intercultural dialogue "as a way to prevent conflicts". Figel’ on his part will offer a preview of the proposals of the Executive Committee regarding the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, that the EU is to celebrate in 2008, also to prompt new ideas and proposals.
