Cultural Diversity and State Aids to the Cultural Sector

Abstract

In the context of their domestic cultural policies, the member states of the European Union (EU) resort to a variety of funding tools in order to encourage cultural activities, foster the creation and broad distribution of cultural products and ensure the conservation of heritage (Psychogiopoulou, 2006, 2008). The rationale of public funding is that a laissez-faire economy does not guarantee the protection of cultural and linguistic identities and is not suitable to promote the multiplicity of artistic expressions. By reinforcing domestic industries and the production of niche cultural goods at national and regional levels, public funding aims to prevent ‘cultural uniformity’ (Ferri, 2008).