European culture carries tolerance and progress
Are there a European culture and a European identity? According to Mrs. Catherine Lalumiere, secretary general of the Council of Europe in the remarkable period 1989 – 1994 there is no doubt that common European culture does exist. Which are its elements? It is based on a series of ideas and values that we all share here, on the Continent, she says. Human rights form the spine of these values, as set in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. We share a common idea on family and family life. We also share many features in the sphere of art, since we are all successors of the three monothetic religions of the Middle East, of ancient Greece’s developed culture and of the one of the Roman Empire. These common signs can be spotted everywhere, for instance in the structure of our cities. “Those of us, who have traveled more, are aware of that. When I return from the USA, for instance, where the traditions are quite different, I feel at home everywhere in Europe where my plane lands,” Catherine Lalumiere says.
“One of the divine surprises to me after the fall of the Berlin Wall was the discovery that the cities of the East were built on the same principle as the ones of the West,” Mrs. Lalumiere says. “I expected to see a completely different structure of the cities where I should have felt like a foreigner. It was just the opposite, I felt like home at once, since all our cities are based on the same principle.”
Catherine Lalumiere also says that curiosity was one of the distinguished features of the European culture, along with the fact that people are open towards the world around them and show tolerance to cultural diversity.
“The European person has traveled for like an eternity,” she reminded. “We are curious people, who want to know, who believe that knowledge knows no end, regarding its expansion. I find Homer’s Odysseus to be the par excellance image of the European person. He is a man that feels OK at home, with his family. However, one day he leaves that home to see what’s going on around the world and starts to wander around the Mediterranean Sea. Wherever his ship lands, Odysseus learns new things, expanding his knowledge from town to town and changing his personality. The traveler that finally returns to his roots in Ithaca is not the same person. He has changed, he is enriched and has made a progress. Since progress is an important feature of European culture. We believe that progress is possible and is for good. The strong impact of European culture on our civilization is due exactly to this spirit of openness, of the curiosity towards other people and the understanding that progress is possible,” Catherine Lalumiere went on to say. She finds this common cultural identity very precious.
“This European cultural identity is the fusion that holds the European construction. It is perhaps our most precious asset. However, this asset is threatened by the process of globalization. If we want to keep it, we will need a more efficient EU, aware of its responsibilities that can help us preserve our so valuable common cultural grounds.”
Text and photo: bnr.bg
(25.10.2012)