PRESS RELEASE: Ukrainian creators meet with EU decision makers and call on the EU to stand by them
GESAC has issued a press release on today’s visit of Ukrainian creators to Brussels.
Learn more about their visit below.
On June 15, a delegation representing Ukrainian authors and the cultural sector travelled to Brussels to meet with EU decision-makers in order to raise awareness about the situation of creators in their country during the war and to ensure that necessary political attention is given in Europe to the concerns of cultural life in Ukraine, as summer vacation approaches for most people and immediate interests are diverted with changing daily political priorities and realities. They met with the current and upcoming Presidencies of the EU, Members of the European Parliament, and the European Commission.
Plunged in the chaos, distress, and hardship of the war, which is dramatically affecting their lives and, more broadly, the Ukrainian cultural sector as a whole, Ukrainian creators felt compelled to bring their testimony to the EU policy makers, talk about their day-to-day life in wartime, share their stories, and express their expectations and hopes that Europe is there for them, on their side, and will continue to be in the coming weeks and months.
Members of the delegation: “We urge the EU not to forget Ukraine and its cultural sector now that the initial shock has subsided. Creators in Ukraine have given up their means of creation for arms, fighting to defend their country or seeking refuge abroad to escape the atrocities. They all have one thing in common, whether they stayed or fled the horrors: their situation is particularly difficult, and they face uncertainty and disruption in their normal daily activities. This has been the case since the beginning of the attacks earlier this year, and it is unlikely to change before the war ends.”
GESAC’s General Manager, Véronique Desbrosses, said: “In this most vulnerable time we stand in solidarity with Ukrainian creators. The purpose of the visit was to maintain political attention at EU level and to give a voice to those creators who face the war in their everyday lives. We are encouraged by the commitment of the key EU decision makers we met and hope that this could be the beginning of a process in which EU decision-makers observe and follow-up the situation of Ukraine’s cultural sector on a regular basis.”
To learn more about the delegation’s visit to Brussels and its composition, click here.