Improving social inclusion and cohesion

More social Europe

16 January 23 3 min read

Interact was invited by the European Parliament to speak on how to improve social cohesion and social inclusion can be improved through culture. The Inclusive Growth Network shared some Interreg projects examples during the conference "Raising Citizens' Awareness on the Importance of Culture in Europe", held in December 2022.

The discussion, which revolved around the need to integrate culture in the different European policies, was organised by MEPs Alexis Georgoulis and Niyazi Kizilyürek, followed by the keynote speech given by the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides. The event gathered a number of experts and stakeholders, from psychiatric physicians, NGO’s, national politicians, European Think Tanks, the European Commission and UNESCO.

One of the main conclusions reached by the conference participants was that culture must be part of the European and United Nations agenda as it is directly connected to society, education, democracy, politics, economy and sustainable development, among others. To achieve it, more data is needed. The direct interrelationship between culture, health and well-being was also discussed. Finally, it was concluded that thanks to culture, europeans are united in diversity.

The conference is available to watch online.