European cultural heritage in the Strategic and Development priorities of the European Union (2010-2020)

Abstract

Following the Treaty of Lisbon, the cultural heritage has become one of the priorities of the European Union’s (EU) policy. It was a direct result of the crises that shook the axiological foundations of integration process. Cultural policy was made, on the one hand, a medium of European memory, and, on the other hand – a catalyst for economic growth and an important component of sustainable development of the Union. This article presents the analysis of the strategic objectives of heritage as defined in EU secondary legislation and in the decision on establishing the European Year of Cultural Heritage (2018). The author determines correlations between the cultural heritage sector and sustainable development. They allow the sector to be structured in terms of multi-level management of 'resources', harnessing its capital-generating potential, and safeguarding it through EU financing and digitalisation mechanisms. The theoretical principles of the policy analysis are the concepts by David Thorsby and Jon Hawkes concerning the role of cultural strategies in sustainable development, transferred to EU policy initiatives addressing the coherence and synergy of culture with other public policies of the Union.