Solidarity is fine, but action speaks louder than words. The European Alliance of Academies is taking the European Union's Europe Day on 9 May as an opportunity to advocate for the freedom of the arts – in Hungary especially. In cooperation with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), the Alliance is launching an online petition to the European Parliament and filing a complaint with the UN Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune.
The European Alliance of Academies is calling for the violations of artistic freedom in Hungary to be opposed with the legal instruments available and for the legal framework to be enforced to protect the independence of cultural institutions and cultural workers wherever it is threatened.
In an accompanying online event, the procedure was discussed with key players in the cultural and the political spheres in Europe. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas opened the discussion with a welcome address. Sabine Verheyen, Chair of the Committee on Culture in the European Parliament, commented on the situation. Alliance members from Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Slovenia and Germany presented their proposals for action. One focus was also on artistic cooperation in the digital realm.
Taking part are Liesbeth Bik (Akademie van Kunsten), Ferenc Czinki (Society of Hungarian Authors), Marion Döring (European Film Academy), Gyözö Ferencz (Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts), Wolfgang Kaleck (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights), Dominika Kasprowicz (Villa Decius in Krakow), Christoph Markschies (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities), Jeanine Meerapfel (Akademie der Künste), Norbert Palz (Berlin University of the Arts), Aleš Šteger (writer), Marina Warner (Royal Society of Literature) and others. Chair: Annette Riedel, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Supported by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Society of Friends of the Akademie der Künste
