France LeBon, Communauté Française de Belgique, introduced the key positions that the Belgian Presidency is putting forward: a balanced triade of economic growth – citizenship – social cohesion. The time of convergences in innovation, creativity, social and economic values has come.

Horia Roman Patapievici, President of EUNIC, provided a critical analysis of the approach embedded in the European Union, inviting to reflection: Whether the way we are promoting diversity in Europe is the right one? Isn’t it another attempt to unification and commodification, under the globalization pressure?

Stojan Pelko, State Secretary, Ministry of Culture of Slovenia, offered a dynamic philosophical picture of re-thinking and mobilizing the tools of education, reflection and culture as a driver of emancipatory politics.

"The further cultural policy reaches from the government cells to the civil society landscape, the more chance it has not to be a sad lady passively looking through the window of the castle but to “embody the experience”".

Watch Stojan Pelko in dialogue with Chris Torch here.

Read the full speeches here!

This post is part of the "Culture and the Policies of Change" reporting on LabforCulture.
Read more at http://www.labforculture.org/cweconference2010