Outcomes of the 4th Partnership meeting

On 10 and 11 February 2021, the 4th Partnership meeting of the Culture and Cultural Heritage Partnership took place, leading to productive discussions and concrete action points for the Partnership.

The importance of establishing links with other initiatives at the EU, the national and local level was emphasised, as these represent an opportunity for the Partnership to make links and strengthen their Actions.

Secondly, it was discussed that 2021 is a crucial year for the implementation of Actions and therefore it is important to keep the momentum. The expertise and experience of the Partnership should be made the most of, hence members are encouraged to reach out to Action Leaders and to engage in the implementation of the Actions.

The two-day meeting was opened by the Italian and German Coordinators who stressed the impact that the pandemic has had on the work and the targets of the Partnership. Despite these circumstances, the Action Plan was successfully presented at the DGUM in October 2020, after a wide public consultation. The beginning of 2021 also marked the beginning of the implementation of their 11 Actions. The success of these Actions will be based on joint efforts and it is important to keep high levels of commitment to the great work of the Partnership.

The importance of culture and tourism as drivers of regional economic development and sources of employment was reiterated in a presentation by DG REGIO in regard to Cohesion Policy after 2020.

The discussion then moved on to the New European Bauhaus (NEB), a new European initiative that presents a way of exploring a better way of living together, a topic that became even more relevant during the pandemic. This initiative, which was presented by the JRC, aims also to get the EU Green deal closer to people in a different way, by connecting them.The Partnership is currently discussing potential contributions to the design phase of the NEB.

Next on the agenda, Partnership Coordinators presented the State of the Play of the Partnership. It was suggested that the Partnership reach out to relevant programmes and/or initiatives that could help improve national and European dialogue for cities and engagement with other initiatives. Coordinators also asked that participants engage in communication and outreach activities to help increase visibility.

The second day of the meeting was dedicated to the implementation of the Actions, where Action Leaders provided updates on their Actions, followed by a plenary discussion and Q&A. The second day was instrumental for Action Leaders to collect feedback on the implementation of their Action from all Partnership members.

Next steps

The 5th Partnership meeting of the Culture/Cultural Heritage Partnership will take place virtually on Tuesday 20 (afternoon) and Wednesday 21 (morning) of April and a 6th meeting is in the works for June.