COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 20 November 1995 on the promotion of statistics on culture and economic growth (95/C 327/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Whereas culture has an intrinsic value which should not be measured primarily by its economic utility but basically by qualitative criteria in the conviction that its value is not diminished by estimating its potential economic dimension;

Whereas, pursuant to Article 128 (1) of the EU Treaty, 'the Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore`;

Whereas paragraph 4 of the same Article states that 'the Community shall take cultural aspects into account in its action under other provisions of this Treaty`;

Whereas Community action in the area of culture, as in other areas, must be based on a precise awareness of the actual situation depending on reliable data derived from systems capable of producing comparable statistics;

Whereas, moreover, it could be important to have satisfactory statistics at Community level if Article 128 (4) is to be implemented properly;

Whereas account should be taken of the studies carried out in several Member States and of the findings of the meeting of heads of statistical offices and national culture administrations held in Paris on 8 and 9 June 1995, as well as of the outcome of the follow-up meeting which took place in Madrid on 13 and 14 October 1995;

Whereas the process launched by the Belgian Presidency in 1993 on the economic aspects and job-creating role of culture, which was taken up by the French and Spanish Presidencies, culminated in the presentation to the Council of documents concerning figures in culture and its links with economic growth;

Whereas, in the context of the emergence of the new information society, characterized by an accelerated process of technological change and the shift to a world-wide economy, the cultural dimension is of increasing importance, both qualitatively and quantitatively (its intrinsic economic value and the spin-off in other sectors such as training, employment, infrastructures, communications, tourism);

Whereas culture has an influence on both the overall development of society and its cohesion, as well as on cooperation with third countries,

AGREES to continue work on establishing comparable statistical indicators and the possible alignment of cultural statistics;

NOTES that the measures defined in this resolution should in particular promote the voluntary exchange of information and statistics between Member States on the basis of the existing statistical data;

INVITES the Commission, in close cooperation with the Member States and within the framework of the statistical systems that exist at national and Community level, to ensure that better use is made of existing statistical resources and that work on compiling comparable cultural statistics within the European Union proceeds smoothly. In that context, the Council invites the Commission to study more specifically the relationship between culture and the economy, and in particular the importance of the cultural sector in other economic areas (employment, growth, new technologies applied to culture, mobilization of public and private resources in the cultural sector, etc). The Council invites the Commission to report to it from time to time on the outcome of its work.