CLIC presented at the First meeting of the European Commission Expert Group on Cultural Heritage

The First meeting of the European Commission expert group on cultural heritage was held on 15th and 16th October 2019. Jermina Stanojev, researcher from Uppsala University, as a selected member of the expert group, presented the CLIC project. The presentation was held under the session “SUSTAINABILITY – cultural heritage for a sustainable Europe” with a title “Circular models Leveraging Investments in Cultural heritage adaptive reuse (Horizon 2020 research project “CLIC”)”.

She presented the concept of circular economy applied to cultural heritage adaptive reuse as well as main objectives and activities of the CLIC project and the Taskforce on “Circular models for cultural heritage adaptive reuse in cities and regions”. Furthermore, she pointed out the role and representation of cultural heritage in regional smart specialisation strategies as an instrument for the implementation of circular economy – a study that has been developed at Uppsala University within the CLIC project. The presentation has been praised by several EU Member States representatives and opened a lively and interesting discussion among participants of the meeting about how EU Member States, regions and cities shall urgently respond to better inclusion of cultural heritage into circular economy strategic plans.

The European Commission has established the expert group for the next three years, with a view to maintain the spirit of cooperation and policy dialogue achieved during the European Year of Cultural Heritage. The group will provide the European Commission with advice and expertise, as well as to serve as a platform for consultation and exchange of information on cultural heritage policies to support the implementation of the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage.

Task of the group is to exchange information between the European Commission, Member States and stakeholders operating in the area of culture and cultural heritage on questions relating to the development of international, European and national legislations, programmes and policies in the field of Europe’s cultural heritage. The group shall provide the Commission with experts’ reports, opinions and analysis regarding to EU legislation, EU funding programmes and policies in the field of Europe’s cultural heritage or having an impact on Europe’s cultural heritage. Furthermore, it shall monitor and, if needed, provide recommendations regarding the implementation of the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage, including its five strategic objectives and related clusters and to bring an exchange of experience and good practice related to the management of cultural heritage at different levels of governance, with a view to developing a more integrated approach to its safeguarding and valorization.

Jointly agreed by participants during the meeting, the topic of sustainability shall strongly remain on the agenda of the group. The next meeting of the expert group will be held in spring 2020 with a possible attendance of a newly appointed Commissioner.

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