Ukraine feels itself as a part of the European community. The EU-UA Association Agreement has given a strong impulse to the transformation of Ukrainian legislation and procedures to be aligned with the EU legislation and policy, in particular in the field of culture and media. Ukraine now has a more ambitious strategy and action plan for deepening relations with the EU.
This was discussed during a joint meeting of the Government of Ukraine and the Commissioners of the European Union on February 2.
In addition, strengthening the protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage was also considered. Because of russian aggression, more than 1,500 objects of cultural heritage and cultural infrastructure have already been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is grateful to the EU member states for the assistance provided, in particular, for the protection and preservation of the cultural heritage that sustained damage due to russian military aggression, in particular through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. We expect that this assistance will be expanded”, said Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
Currently, the Government of Ukraine is working on the digitalization of museum collections. With the beginning of a full-scale war, the need to digitize museum resources of Ukraine became urgent. Along with shelling, looting and destruction of museums, accounting documentation which contains information about museum values is being destroyed. In this context, Ukraine calls for strengthening the cooperation of specialized bodies, including international ones, for the exchange of information, as well as for the detection of illegally exported cultural values.
“We have information about the illegal removal of some museum exhibits from museum collections in the temporarily occupied territories. We are aware that in order to preserve the cultural heritage, which is an integral part of the cultural heritage of Europe, it is necessary to complete the creation of the online database as soon as possible. We are very grateful to the EU and its member states, in particular Poland, who are helping in this,” said Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission, member of the European Commission for Promoting European Way of Life.
As a reminder, within the framework of cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, Solidarity Fund PL and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine in 2022, the project “Implementation of the electronic system of the register of the Museum Fund of Ukraine” was launched.
