Culture and European Union Law

This book explores the relationship between European Union law, culture, and identity. Community trade and competition rules have certainly affected many mundane, though highly formative, aspects of our day-to-day lives: when we shop, what we drink, even which football matches we watch on television. But Community law is not merely a vehicle for challenging established national rules which have a cultural dimension: Article 151 of the EC Treaty, which came into force in 1993, empowers the Community to 'contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States', whilst at the same time bringing the 'common cultural heritage to the fore'. This book explores some of the challenges facing the European Union in developing convincing and coherent policies in the cultural domain. These challenges stem not only from the Union's fragmented institutional structure and Member State sensitivities but also from the uncertainty which surrounds the very meaning of the term 'culture' itself. The wide-ranging contributions illustrate how cultural issues can be seen to permeate all aspects of European Union law, by focussing on areas as diverse as international trade and aid, education, sport, language use, and the mass media.

Acknowledgments ; List of Authors ; Table of Cases ; Table of Legislation ; Text of Article 151 of the European Community Treaty ; Chapter 1: Introduction ; PART I THE DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL POLICY BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY ; Chapter 2: European Community Intervention in the Cultural Field: Continuity or Change? ; PART II TRADING CULTURES: CULTURE AND COMMERCE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION ; Chapter 3: Labels, Locals, and the Free Movement of Goods ; Chapter 4: Sport as Culture in European Community Law ; Chapter 5: The Gardener and other Stories: the Peregrinations of Cultural Artefacts within the European Union ; PART III COMMUNICATING CULTURE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE MEDIA, LANGUAGE, AND EDUCATION ; Chapter 6: European Community Law and the Cultural Aspects of Television ; Chapter 7: Language Law of the European Union: Protecting or Eroding Linguistic Diversity? ; Chapter 8: Reflections on Education and Culture in European Community Law ; PART IV: CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION ; Chapter 9: Article 151 and European Identity ; Chapter 10: Long-Term Resident Third Country Nationals in the European Union: Institutional Legacies and Evolving Norms ; PART V CULTURE AND THE EUROPEAN UNION'S EXTERNAL RELATIONS: TRADE AND AID ; Chapter 11: Preserving and Promoting Differences? The External Dimension of Cultural Cooperation ; Chapter 12: From Regional to Global Freedom of Trade in Audio-Visual Goods and Services? A Comparison of the Impact on the Audio-Visual Sector of the Preferential Trade Zones Established by the European Community and the World Trade Organization ; PART VI CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ; Chapter 13: Culture and European Union Law: The Exploration of an Interface