COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSIONTO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTpursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Unionconcerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Union action for the European Heritage Label
Date: 2011-07-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU policy, European citizenship, cultural heritage, heritage protection, public awareness campaign, quality label

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 20.7.2011 
COM(2011) 406 final 

2010/0044 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of 
the Council establishing a European Union action for the European Heritage Label 

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   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
2010/0044 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of 
the Council establishing a European Union action for the European Heritage Label 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2010) 76 final – 2010/0044 COD): 

11 March 2010. 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions: 

9 June 2010. 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

16 December 2010. 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

Not applicable. 

19 July 2011. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

The  general  objectives  of  the  European  Heritage  Label  are  to  strengthen  European  citizens’ 
sense of belonging to the European Union, in particular that of young people, based on shared 
values and elements of European history and cultural heritage, as well as an appreciation of 
dialogue.  
national 

intercultural 

strengthen 

diversity, 

regional 

and 

and 

to 

To this end the Label will seek to stress the symbolic  value  and  to  raise  the  profile  of  sites 
which have played a significant role in the history and culture of Europe and/or the building 
of  the  European  Union,  and  to  increase  European  citizens’  understanding  of  the  history  of 
Europe  and  the  building  of  the  European  Union,  and  of  their  common  yet  diverse  cultural 
heritage,  especially  in  relation  to  the  democratic  values  and  human  rights  that  underpin  the 
process of European integration. 

The  Label  is  also  expected  to  help  increase  cultural  tourism,  bringing  possible  economic 
benefits. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

3.1 

General comments on the Council position at first reading 

The Commission can fully accept the Council position which is the outcome of constructive 
negotiations  between  the  three  institutions.  It  is  in  line  with  the  essential  objectives  and  the 
underlying approach of the Commission's initial proposal. 

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3.2 

Agreement at the stage of the Council's position 

The Council's position is the result of intensive inter-institutional negotiations which followed 
the adoption by the European Parliament of its position at first reading on 16 December 2010. 
Informal  and  technical  meetings  have  resulted  in  compromise  on  a  number  of  outstanding 
issues. 

Following  the  negotiations,  Coreper  reached  agreement  on  the  text  on  15  April  2011.  On  9 
May 2011, the Chairwoman of the CULT Committee of the European Parliament, Ms Doris 
Pack, sent a letter to the Hungarian Presidency confirming that should the Council adopt as its 
position  at  first  reading  the  text  approved  by  the  Coreper  (subject  to  legal-linguistic 
verification), she would recommend to the CULT Committee and then to the Parliament as a 
whole  in  plenary  session,  that  the  Council's  position  be  accepted  without  amendment  at 
Parliament's  second  reading.  The  Education,  Culture,  Youth  and  Sport  Council  reached  a 
political agreement on this basis on 19 May 2011. 

The  main  points  which  were  negotiated  and  agreed  upon  by  the  three  institutions  are  the 
following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

In  a  first  stage,  the  European  Heritage  Label  will  be  open  to  the  participation  of 
Member  States  only.  In  the  course  of  the  first  evaluation  of  the  action,  the 
appropriateness of enlarging its geographical scope will be examined. 

The selection of sites will take place every two years in order to prevent the number 
of  labelled  sites  increasing  too  quickly,  which  could  harm  the  overall  quality  and 
prestige of the new label. 

Several sites located in the same Member State will have the possibility to focus on a 
specific theme to put forward a single application ("National thematic sites"). 

"Transnational  sites"  will  be  counted  in  the  quota  of  the  Member  State  which 
initiated  the  application  only  in  order  to  avoid  introducing  additional  management 
complexity and in order not to discourage Member States from actually taking part in 
these sites. 

The  transitional  provisions  which  will  apply  in  particular  to  the  sites  which  were 
already  awarded  a  label  within  the  previous  intergovernmental  initiative  were 
maintained in the text. They were however simplified and it was stated more clearly 
that during this period, the sites would be assessed on the base of the criteria of the 
new initiative and would follow the same procedure as that for the other sites. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  fully  supports  the  results  of  the  inter-institutional  negotiations  and  can 
therefore accept the Council's position at first reading. 

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