I N T R O D U C T I O N BY T H E E X E C UT I V E P R E S I D E N T A N D T H E S E C R E TA RY G E N E R A L As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across Europe and the world with an unprecedented impact on our society, economy and on our personal lives, we look back at the year 2019 with a sense of accomplishment and a touch of nostalgia. Last year, we have successfully implemented our action plan and engaged in new initiatives and partnership. Throughout the year, we have campaigned, jointly with the European Heritage Alliance, to keep culture and cultural heritage high on the political agenda of new EU leaders after the European Elections in May 2019. We have reinforced our team at our Brussels Office, from the new and larger premises located at rue de Trêves 45. We are especially proud of our successful advocacy campaign - led together with other networks from the wider world of culture - to bring the word ‘culture’ back to the portfolio title of the new EU Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel.
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In October 2019, we had the privilege of organising a high-level and high-profile “Assises européennes du patrimoine culturel” in Paris, bringing together 1,200 delegates from 35 different countries. After the Berlin Summit that was held during the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, this large European heritage rendez-vous was organised under the High Patronage of President Emmanuel Macron,
in partnership with the Fondation du Patrimoine and Stéphane Bern, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture and the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs, as well as in collaboration with many other precious members and partners from France and Europe. At the historic Paris Town Hall and at the recently restored Châtelet Theatre, we celebrated Heritage Excellence and Heritage Champions as part of our reputable European Heritage Awards scheme, run in partnership with the European Commission. The Paris Summit ended with a most successful European Policy Debate held at the Collège des Bernardins and the adoption of our Paris Manifesto callling for the relaunch of the European project through culture and cultural heritage. On that same month, we joined the Global Climate Heritage Network launched in Edinburgh with the aim of emphasising that culture - both arts and cutural heritage - are heavily impacted by climate change while also being a key asset for climate action.We also stepped up our action to save the most threatened heritage sites across Europe, thanks to the decision by the European Investment Bank Institute to increase its annual support for the period 2020-2023, thus allowing us to start issuing an annual list of 7 Most Endangered sites as of 2020. Our shared cultural heritage indeed remains vulnerable, as illustrated by unsuitable development projects (like the cable car project at the Belgrade Fortress in Serbia) or by various natural or man-made disasters like the fire that devastated the Notre-Dame Cathedral on 15 April, the floods that engulfed Venice in November or the strong earthquakes in Albania, and also most recently in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, with related serious damage to cultural heritage. Today, as we are confronted with so many old and new challenges, we sincerely hope that our large European movement for cultural heritage will once more demonstrate a strong sense of togetherness and resilience. Now - more than ever - is the time for all of us to join forces and amplify our voices to make sure that the care for and investment in our shared cultural heritage is duly included within the short and long-term recovery plans for Europe’s society and economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has indeed very visibly demonstrated how Annual Report | 2019 | Rapport annuel | 9
