Address by MEP Diana Riba I Giner
Vice Chair of the CULT Committee of the European Parliament
to Opera Europa’s NEXT GENERATION conference
on Monday 17 March 2025 at Gran Teatre del Liceu
"Thank you for this invitation.
As Vice President of the Culture Committee of the European Parliament, it is a pleasure to be here and participate in your conference.
What would we be without these cultural spaces?
These spaces where we connect, where we are moved, spaces that provoke thought and criticism, exchange, and reflection. In fact, in an essay on opera and politics in 19th-century Italy, an author stated that the most dangerous quality of opera is its ability to ignite passions, not only personal ones, but political ones.
I thought it was a great reflection to open our conversation today because I believe it is always timely to reclaim the political nature of culture and art because art and culture are not just entertainment. As art is profoundly human, it is also always political. I would even say that part of the essence of every artistic expression is its political dimension.
So, to talk about culture, let me frame the context of the current debate:
We are facing a transformation of the global order in which Europe must redefine its place in the world.
This is our context. We live in a time of profound change, in which structures and concepts that until very recently we considered unchangeable are being redefined.
Today, in Europe, we find ourselves defending basic principles and fundamental rights, once again.
And there is a real risk: that culture will be relegated to entertainment, anecdote, or folklore. Sometimes, there is this mistaken idea –which the world of opera unfortunately knows well– that culture is a luxury, a kind of complement.
In Europe, we risk forgetting that culture is a democratic structure, one of the pillars that underpin our societal model.
That is why, in this new global order, Europe should not forget that culture cannot be an add-on; it must be a central element of its strategy.
Culture Action Europe published some very interesting figures to exemplify this challenge. In their report, they said that Russia spent over 1.1 billion euros on media and culture -just in the occupied territories of Ukraine. In contrast, the budget for the Creative Europe Programme for 2024 was 335 million euros.
Here lies the paradox: while we talk about culture, authoritarian regimes invest –and a lot– in cultural policy –their idea of cultural policy, of course– treating and understanding it as a tool of power.
Our democratic response, on the other hand, is often more active in words than in investments.
The EU thus faces an existential choice: either remain on the margins of its limited competence in culture,
while witnessing the erosion of the democratic narratives we have spent decades building, or invest in culture as a strategic pillar in security and resilience.
So, entering this political dimension and considering the current context, it is clear that cultural policy cannot be improvised. We need a clear compass to guide us through this uncertain context.
The European Commission itself has recognized that we need a more strategic political approach to culture, integrating it into our broader political goals. It is in this framework that we talk about the Cultural Compass in the EU. This Cultural Compass must become a global strategic framework to guide and harness the multiple dimensions culture offers.
For now, we don’t know the details of this European Cultural Compass, but we must be clear.
We can no longer afford only to defend cultural diversity. We need a strategy that helps it grow, makes it sustainable, and connects it better with society – especially in the world of digitalization and artificial intelligence. AI and digitalization can be powerful tools to democratize access to culture, preserve heritage, and open new forms of creation, but we also face major challenges: who controls the algorithms that decide what we see, read, or listen to?
How do we ensure that languages don’t disappear in a digital universe dominated by English?
How do we protect the rights of creators so that AI is an ally, not a threat?
Technology must be a driver of diversity, not a filter that reduces or erases it.
And we will only achieve this if we put it at the service of culture and not the other way around.
In this sense, Opera Europa is an example of how collaboration enriches and strengthens the sector.
Initiatives like OperaVision show us that digitalization can expand access to culture, making it more inclusive and democratic.
The question is: will we have the resources to continue this path?
And this brings me to a second point of political reflection. We don’t only need strategic vision, we need resources.
The future of funding for the cultural world and the new EU budget, including the future of Creative Europe, will be decisive. The funding framework we adopt will shape the sector’s future for almost the next decade. And let me be clear: We cannot accept cuts. We cannot accept the disappearance of programmes like Creative Europe.
Because funding for culture is also an investment in democracy, in shared values, in fundamental rights.
A Europe without culture is a project without a soul. It is no longer a political project.
We have often asked member states for 2% for culture. The ambition of the European Union itself should not be less.
2% for culture and the conviction that this 2% is an investment that will not only impact the great contribution to the economy already made by cultural and creative sectors, but will also be an investment in future generations.
We need a strong budget to ensure that cultural spaces like this one, like those you represent, are resilient and, above all, to ensure they continue to help define our future.
I began by saying that art is political because art is human. And I want to end my speech by placing what is most human at the centre of political reflection.
There is no debate about the future of culture in Europe if we forget who is at the center of the sector: singers, musicians, composers, artists, creators, the professionals of the cultural world. You are the true core and backbone of culture.
Unfortunately, in many member states, but also in the EU, we still have an unresolved challenge:
We need to build legislative, regulatory, and administrative frameworks that understand the reality of the sector, a true “Status of Artists” that guarantees that artists can work throughout Europe without administrative obstacles, with dignified conditions.
A framework that recognizes particularities such as intermittency or mobility.
Because – and although we appreciate it – culture cannot depend solely on the passion and vocation of its creators. Artists need dignified conditions. But not only that, they also need the raw material of their work: freedom of artistic expression.
And here we must look at ourselves in the mirror. Unfortunately, across the continent, we are witnessing a worrying trend: the rise of anti-democratic movements, the growing influence of far-right parties, polarization, and authoritarian narratives.
In Europe, which has been a refuge for artists facing repression, we are now seeing increasing restrictions on free expression. The autonomy of our cultural institutions is at risk. This is not an abstract issue.
We see: Political interference limiting artistic and operational decisions; financial pressure to influence the functioning of cultural institutions and facilities; Dismissals for political reasons aimed at eliminating critical voices.
We have seen it in Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Austria. In Spain, we have an artist serving a prison sentence simply for his lyrics about the monarchy. We also see book withdrawals and attacks on libraries.
Often, these events seem anecdotal. But when we connect them, we see they are not isolated.
Art must be free to challenge, to question, to provoke discomfort.
And I believe I don’t need to convince you of this. You know better than anyone how opera has historically been a force of political critique, an unyielding mirror of society. From Mozart to Shostakovich, opera has defied norms, exposed injustices, and given a voice to the voiceless.
Therefore, we cannot —and will not— accept silence.
But I don’t want to end on a note that invites despair. On the contrary, I want to end my intervention by giving us a shared task:
We must build alliances. We will need each other.
We will need to build stronger connections between artists, cultural institutions, and policy makers to protect artistic freedom and resist the growing pressures.
Know that you will have us by your side, but we will need the whole cultural sector. This collaboration will be essential to safeguard culture, cultural spaces, and cultural institutions.
For all these reasons, we must also push at the European level. The EU will not find its place in the world if it leaves culture behind. Without culture, Europe would be nothing more than a market. Without culture, there can be no integration project, because culture gives soul and heart to this political project.
So, in the face of Musk’s empty noise, Trump’s authoritarianism, and Le Pen’s far right: a Europe with more opera, with full theaters, with the freedom to create, to provoke, and to challenge when necessary.
A Europe that fosters imagination, that embraces its diversity, and that is not uncomfortable with freedom of expression.
A Europe where culture does not merely survive but leads the way.
And it is for this Europe that we will continue to work.
Thank you very much."
