EU Commissioner Glenn Micallef addresses Europe’s biggest cultural conference ahead of budget talks

Malta’s own EU Commissioner Glenn Micallef has addressed Europe’s largest cultural policy conference earlier this month, stressing that culture must be integrated, funded and prioritised in shaping the bloc’s future in the EU upcoming budget.

Culture, part of Mr Micallef’s portfolio with Intergenerational Fairness, Youth and Sport, only holds 0.2 percent of the entire EU budget, and this is already being scrutinised as is. On 2nd February 2025, the Commissioner joined Europe’s biggest cultural conference in Brussels to herald the Cultural Deal for Europe, a call to prioritise culture in EU policies, develop a robust culture strategy, and allocate at least two percent of EU funding to culture.

“We can use culture to achieve the EU’s strategic goals”, Micallef stressed, addressing the packed hall at Bozart, Brussels.

The Commissioner’s main message was that culture must be mainstreamed across political strategies and other EU policies such as democracy, international relations, research and innovation, education, civil society, digital development, cohesion, sustainable investment and job creation.

Culture also talks money. The European Parliamentary Research Service estimates that each euro (€) invested in the creative and cultural sector on EU level, generates a return of up to € 11 of GDP.

The conference was attended by major cultural actors, European Commission officials, five Members of the European Parliament, including the culture committee chair Nela Riehl, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, cultural attachés from the union and representatives of European cultural networks and organisations – some 120 participants engaged physically and 1,000 online.

Glenn Micallef is the Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport. His task is to give young people more freedom, say and responsibility within our societies, building on what brings us together in diversity, from cultural heritage to sport at all levels.

For culture, he is tasked with developing a new “Culture Compass” to guide and harness the multiple dimensions of culture, with a focus on improving the working conditions of artists and cultural professionals in the bloc. He will have to push for it in the omission discussions on budget happening presently. By May, the EU Commission would have drafted up their budget to submit it to the Council and European Parliament for dissection and discussion.

The largest cultural policy conversation was organised by Culture Action Europe, Europa Nostra and European Heritage Hub.