Answer given by Ms Gabriel on behalf of the European Commission
7.7.2021
Within the Union, the Commission is not aware of a systematic attack on classical studies.
The Union is continuing to support Member States in their efforts to protect cultural heritage, with a special emphasis on cultural heritage of European significance. Through dedicated programmes, notably Erasmus+ and Creative Europe, the EU is funding projects that promote education for and about Europe’s cultural heritage and Europe’s cultural roots, as well as cooperation projects in the field of cultural heritage.
This includes a variety of Erasmus+ projects on relevant topics such as ‘From Latin text to European context’[1], ‘Ancient Cities. Creating a Digital Learning Environment on Cultural Heritage’[2], ‘Self-Learning Atlas of Ancient European CulTures’[3], ‘Cultural Learning through Greek Mythology’[4], ‘Racines communes’[5], ‘Historia Magistra Vitae’[6], and ‘Latin and Ancient Greek traces in European culture and in the English language, the contemporary lingua franca’[7]. Such bottom-up projects concern various levels and sectors of education as well as youth cooperation, and are in line with the requirement that Union action in this area must fully respect the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity.
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2018-1-DE03-KA229-047323
- [2] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2017-1-DE01-KA203-003537
- [3] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2020-1-IT02-KA201-079057
- [4] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2014-3-DE04-KA105-001609
- [5] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2019-1-FR01-KA229-062897
- [6] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/EST-2010-1-NL1-COM07-02761
- [7] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/EST-2011-1-GR1-COM07-06593