AgoraEU: Culture must reach every community – my question to Commissioner Micallef

The name AgoraEU is no coincidence. The ancient Agora was born in Athens — not in a capital city office, but at the very heart of the community. It was the place where citizens could speak freely, where democracy was lived and practiced every day.

This is why the Committee of the Regions warmly welcomes the new AgoraEU programme. Democracy is strongest where people live it daily — in their towns, their villages, and their regions.

Today, at the SEDEC Committee meeting, I had the honour of presenting our draft opinion on AgoraEU in the presence of Commissioner Glenn Micallef, responsible for youth and culture.

I thanked the Commissioner for his clear commitment to linguistic diversity. He emphasised that culture must be supported and accessible in all official EU languages, as well as in regional and minority languages. This is particularly important to me, because in the draft Regulation, minorities are not sufficiently visible. Through our opinion, I seek to change this.

At the same time, I raised a concern shared by many local and regional authorities across Europe.

Today, most EU cultural funding flows to large cities. Rural areas receive less. Peripheral regions receive less. Minority communities receive less. If we do not change this pattern, these gaps will only widen.

That is why our opinion proposes three concrete measures:

1.     Territorial indicators, to clearly track where funding is actually going

2.     Simple, small-scale grants, enabling smaller organisations to participate without excessive administrative burdens

3.     Local contact points, ensuring that people in every region can access guidance and support

I asked Commissioner Micallef one direct question:
Will you support territorial monitoring in AgoraEU — region by region?

This is not about bureaucracy. It is about accountability. It is about ensuring that European cultural funding truly reaches every community — the craftsman in a mountain village, the young creator in a rural incubator, the cultural NGO working in a minority language.

Europe’s unity will endure only if diversity is not merely celebrated, but actively supported.

I look forward to the Commissioner’s response and to working together to make AgoraEU a programme for all Europeans.