What is the Presidency of the Council of the European Union?
Every 18 months, a trio of Member States of the European Union host the ‘Presidency of the Council of the European Union’. They work closely together to set long-term goals to be addressed by the Council to advance the work of the European Union. The three Member States prepare a common agenda covering major topics and issues, with each country setting its own detailed six-month programme focussing on areas that reflect its own priorities and passions. Portugal currently has the privilege and responsibility of holding the Presidency and is part of a trio with Germany and Slovenia.
Portugal driving culture forward
Portugal is driving forward an agenda with culture at its very heart. Its policy programme looks towards a new future for Europe, paying attention to the implementation of the EU recovery plan in the cultural and creative sectors with focal points on access to culture, participation in cultural life and the relationship between the arts and education. The programme also has a focus on the role of digital transformation in this context and on creating a European digital identity that promotes access to quality data, and supports the role of digital in a democratic, open and sustainable society.
To enhance and underpin this, Portugal is also running a cultural programme including concerts, art installations and exhibitions. It is using theatre, cinema, music, dance and the visual arts, to confirm the importance of a resilient, social, green, digital and global Europe. The cultural programme demonstrates how culture and cultural activities are relevant to and can be used to shape high level policy thinking, and to drive policy in a range of areas.
Europeana supporting the cultural heritage sector
Europeana works hard to raise issues that are important to the cultural heritage sector with Europe’s key policymakers. We want them to understand the challenges and needs of the sector and to make decisions that support its development. Events organised as part of Member States’ Presidency programmes give us a platform to do just that.
This cooperation supports our outreach to Member States and provides opportunities to meet with high-level policymakers from European ministries of culture, representatives of the European Commission and the DCHE Expert Group, as well as experts in the topic at hand.
The topics of Europeana’s Presidency events reflect both the sector’s priorities and those of the Presidency itself. In the past, they have covered topics such as copyright, national infrastructures, culture and education, and multilingualism. Through Europeana’s events, we have the opportunity to ensure that culture is at the heart of policy-making - whatever lens the Presidency is looking through.
Europeana and Portugal host two-day capacity-building event
In collaboration with the Portuguese Ministry of Culture and the National Library, Europeana is running a two-day online event on 3-4 June 2021, with a focus that couldn’t be any closer to our hearts: exploring digital capacity building in the cultural heritage sector and putting cultural heritage in the spotlight as part of Europe's recovery.
Our event programme focuses on what digital transformation and capacity building really mean, the importance of building capacity and a vision for common approaches towards it. Through keynote speeches by Graça Fonseca, Minister of Culture of Portugal and European Commission’s Yvo Volman and Rehana Schwinninger-Ladak, talks from other experts, shared examples, discussions and workshops, we’ll explore opportunities and challenges, a common approach to transformation and how Member States can support their cultural organisations.
Register now
Parts of the event are invite-only, aimed at cultural policymakers from EU Member States, but all other sessions are open to all and you can register now.
Explore the draft programme and speakers and take part in a rich interactive experience, digging deep into ideas, inspiring each other in new directions and taking home some valuable insights. Follow #EU2021PT and @2021PortugalEU on Twitter.