Bulgarian Culture Minister Stefan Danailov left Sofia the morning of July 21 for Paris with two scoops under his belt – participation in the two-day informal gathering of European Union-country ministers of culture and audiovisual affairs, held at Versailles; and the knowledge that he had been, in autumn of 2007, invited by French foreign affairs minister Bernard Kouchner, French culture minister Christine Albanel and French minister for European affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet to help plan the EU-encompassing cultural programme for when France took over the rotating six-month EU Presidency in July 2008.
The meeting that Danailov attends on July 21 and 22 is the first large-scale event in France's EU Presidency, the Ministry of Culture wrote on its website before the event started.
The first day of the informal meeting foresaw a free discussion among ministers of undertaking measures as regards encouraging and bringing easier access to culture to the general populace, including an emphasis on the importance of a country's cultural heritage.
Representatives of countries participating had also been invited to share their experiences and advice in combating illegal trafficking of artefacts and other items of cultural significance.
They were also to discuss the European Heritage Label project and options for its realisation. The heritage label aims “promote the transnational European dimension of cultural property, monuments, natural or urban sites, tangible and intangible, contemporary and traditional heritage and sites that have played a key role in building and uniting Europe”, according an EU document issued in Madrid on January 25 2007.
The label was first suggested in 2006 by the culture ministers of France and Hungary.
On the second day of the gathering, the ministers are to discuss audiovisual issues, paying special attention to questions connected to the European Community’s regulatory framework governing electronic communication (known as the “Telecommunications Package”), according to ue2008.fr. This session would include talks on possible changes to the rules of integration of must-carry channels.
It is after the talks finish that Danailov's influence will come to be seen.
On July 22 at 6.30pm at the exhibition hall of Association Le Pont Neuf (31, rue du Pont Neuf, 75001), Madame Bernadette Chirac, president of the Association Le Pont Neuf, Bulgarian ambassador in Paris Irina Bokova and Danailov will open the exhibition The Letters of Bulgaria – the Alphabet of Europe, which will be on until October 3 2008.
Later that evening, at 9pm, the light installation Au-delà du visible/ Отвъд видимото / Beyond the Visible will be inaugurated on the façade of the Bulgarian embassy in Paris (1, avenue Rapp, 75007). The art piece was created by Valentin Stefanov and Nina Kovacheva, winners of the Unesco Prize for the Promotion of the Arts in 2002. This will be projected every night until July 31 2008.
Other upcoming events that Bulgaria has helped planned for France's EU Presidency cultural calendar include a classical music concert in Unesco hall 1, under the patronage of Unesco Director-General Koichiro Matsuura and Danailov, given by Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra with Svetlin Roussev on piano, under the direction of Naiden Todorov on September 15, and a staging of Sfumato Theatre-Workshop's The Strindberg Programme at the Théâtre de la Bastille from October 20 to 27.
Helping to prepare Bulgaria's participation in the European cultural season were the Ministry of Culture, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Bulgarian embassy in Paris, the permanent representation of Bulgaria to Unesco, the Foreign Affairs Ministry's State Cultural Institute and the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Paris.
