The EU has reached a stage of its history where its cultural dimension can no longer be ignored.
> JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO, President of the European Commission

You don't fall in love with an internal market.
> JACQUES DELORS, Former President of the European Commission

Europe is not taking advantage of its emotional potential! Who loves his (or her) country on account of its politics or its economy?
> WIM WENDERS, Film Director

I am quite sure that Europe already has a soul, but does Europe have a heart, Commissioner?
> BRONISLAW GEREMEK†

The European Union cannot possibly take the place of the United States as the leader of the world. But it can set an example for the world in international cooperation both within its own borders and beyond.
> GEORGE SOROS, Chairman of the Open Society Institute

Today’s twentysomethings are eager to change the world, but they won’t manage unless they can develop and apply their own tools.
> FARID TABARKI, Director of CoolPolitics Research

Culture is on the basis of our value system and it is also a prerequisite for the economics on national and European level.
> ROLAND BERGER, Chairman of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

Europeans read different newspapers and watch different television channels, usually in different languages. The only publications all may have read are American ones. There are virtually no pan-European media.
> TIMOTHY GARTON ASH, Professor at the University of Oxford

Complaints about the EU's remoteness from the citizens are not sufficient. Also the citizens have to take an active part in the project EU.
> DIETER BERG, Chairman of the Board of the Robert Bosch Foundation

The European Union is not only a union of sovereign States, but also a union of people which share a common supranational European citizenship.
> EMÍLIO RUI VILAR, President of the Board of Trustees of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Can film do something for a new identity, a new soul of Europe? Of course it can, because it shows the European people how different they are.
> ISTVÁN SZABÓ, Film Director

Our European cultural identity can be described in such a way that our different cultures are respected and accepted, and the differences endured. If we do so, then we respect each other as Europeans and can build up confidence. In the end, culture is a foundation for peace.
> HANS-GERT PÖTTERING, President of the European Parliament

Culture is a powerful instrument for development of individual and society. Culture and education support democratic and economic reforms. They are at the heart not only of the national but also of the personal success.
> MEGLENA KUNEVA, EU Commissioner for Consumer Affairs

Even when we think about the very word Europe and when we think about what's in it, it has to be a project for the citizens and not just a project for the elite.
> JO LEINEN, MEP