Cultural heritage in European Union law and policies

Abstract:

The purpose of this article is to explore how the European Union (EU) has been confronted with cultural heritage. What powers have been attributed to the European institutions in the field of cultural heritage and how have they been exercised? The article discusses the EU’s competences and available means of action with respect to cultural heritage, and scrutinizes the ways they have been used.

The analysis examines the cultural heritage provisions of the EU constitutional texts and the definitional complexities that surround them, it presents early activity in the field of cultural heritage, before the adoption of the Treaty of Maastricht which provided the EU with a formal cultural competence, and it disentangles the cultural heritage policy practice of the European institutions in a post-Maastricht context, looking first at the EU cultural policy proper and secondly, at a broader range of EU policies with a cultural heritage dimension.

The article verifies consistency in the development of EU cultural heritage action and expands on the instrumental logic that drives it forward and on the effects of economic integration on the measures adopted.

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