Cultural Heritage in the European Union: An Outsider’s Perspective

Abstract

Cultural heritage protection has risen to the forefront of EU politics and policies in recent years, as a response to its intrinsic value and social benefits. Nonetheless, each Member State has its own legal definitions and approaches to cultural heritage protection, corresponding to their respective historical, social, political, and economic contexts. The principle of subsidiarity also entails a substantial amount of delegation, which means that bureaucratic obstacles are added to functional ones (lack of funds, geographical divides, etc.), which can inhibit the free exchange of information and communication. Accordingly, heritage protection is uneven across the EU not only due to varying conceptions of what constitutes heritage, but also as to who is considered an appropriate caretaker or stakeholder, and to what extent they should be involved. The present article provides an overview of the ongoing challenges to cultural heritage preservation and presents recommendations for improvement, from a non-EU citizen's perspective. It focuses on two countries-the UK and Italy-as practical examples, given their * Claudia S. Quiñones Vilá is a licensed attorney in New York and Puerto Rico with experience in civil international law and an interest in the art market, illicit trafficking of cultural objects, sustainable development, urban law, and public policy. She currently works at Amineddoleh & Associates, a leading NYC legal firm dealing in art and cultural heritage disputes for high-profile clients, including the Cultural Ministry of Greece. In 2018, she completed an internship at UNIDROIT in Rome focusing on cultural property, specifically the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention's applicability to private art collections in the US and Latin America. In 2019, she received honours for her master's thesis on cultural heritage legislation and policy in the EU as part of the EUPADRA MA/LLM program hosted by LUISS Guido Carli University (Rome),