European “cultural stars“ meet in Sibiu

5 October 2007

Almost 100 outstanding artists, authors, philosophers and other cultural personalities from 40 European countries gather in Sibiu, Romania on 5 - 7 October. They are members of the European Cultural Parliament (ECP) which is holding its 6th session in the European Capital of Culture 2007 in cooperation with the Romanian Ministry for Culture and Cults.

The Sibiu Session will focus on the theme "Making Europe a reality for Europeans - through Culture". Under this theme there will be three sub-themes - "Intercultural Dialogue", "Communicating the European Idea" and "The role of History for the Project Europe".

Speakers at the opening of the session on Friday morning 5 October, at 10.00 is the Romanian Minister of Culture, Mr Adrian Iorgulescu, the Mayor of Sibiu, Mr Klaus Johannis, the Member of the European Parliament (and former Minister of Culture in Luxemburg) Ms Erna Hennicot-Schoepges and the EU Commission Director for strategic communication Mr Tamas Scucz.

The Secretary General of the ECP, ambassador Karl-Erik Norrman says: "Among participants in this session of the European Cultural Parliament we have very well-known personalities like Barbara Hendricks, Sweden/France (opera), Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italy (fine arts), Paul Robertson, UK (music), David Lordkipanidze, Georgia (archaeology), Laura Freixas, Spain (Literature), Gurol Irzik, Turkey (Philosophy), Dino Mustafic, Bosnia (film) and Romanian stars like Ion Caramitru (theatre) and Mircea Cartarescu (Literature)".

"Europe has a soul. This soul is to be found in cultural life. The ECP wishes to amplify the voices of independent artists in order to balance the influence of technocracy in the European dialogue", says ambassador Norrman. "It is a historic occasion for our members to be able to meet in beautiful Sibiu, in the new EU Member country Romania."

The Sibiu Session is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Cults, Romania, the Government of Luxemburg (through Luxemburg 2007), the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, the Körber Foundation, Germany and the Robert Bosch Foundation, Germany.

The ECP is the only European cross-sector forum for cultural personalities and was founded in 2002, holding its first session in European Capital of Culture Bruges, Belgium. Following sessions were organised in Graz, Genoa, Lisbon and Turku. Members are about 150 personalities from 42 countries. The agenda of the ECP is broad. The debates and initiatives encompass subjects like "The role of Culture in promoting tolerance and understanding", "Culture in Conflict Prevention", "Culture as a means to break the European Stalemate".

For more information : karl-erik.norrman@kulturparlament.com Tel. 0049-170-1644 950