CULTURE : WHAT PRICE FOR INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE?

• Position: European Union. European Commission - Brief article

Over a third of the EU budget contribution to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue will be directed towards media/communication activities and public opinion surveys, rather than to the funding of projects, according to figures obtained from the European Commission.

The figures reveal that a total of 3.3 million of the 10 million allocated to the year' will be spent by German company Media Consulta, for "media campaigns and related communication activities". A total of 450,000, meanwhile, has been allocated for two Eurobarometer public opinion surveys, to be carried out by Gallup Hungary.

One of these, a pre-Year Eurobarometer' has already been completed (at a cost in the region of 200,000). Its results were published on 4 December. Key findings from the survey, according to the Commission, include that a large majority of EU citizens believe that people with a different background enrich the cultural life of their country; the dominant feeling in the EU is...