9.05.2021
Press Release: Restriction of Artistic Freedom in Hungary: complaint and petition of the European Alliance of Academies
The European Alliance of Academies is lodging a complaint with the UN Special
Rapporteur on Culture, Karima Bennoune, and launching an online petition to the
European Parliament. The alliance of 65 art academies and cultural institutions is
calling for the violations of the freedom of the arts in Hungary to be countered with
the available legal instruments.
Jeanine Meerapfel, initiator of the Alliance of Academies and President of the
Akademie der Künste, explains the motivation for taking these steps: „If the
freedom of art and opinion is limited in one member country of the European
Union, this is also a challenge to democratic rights in the other European
countries. And we can only succeed if we defend them together“.
The documents produced in cooperation with the European Center for
Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) are available at:
www.allianceofacademies.eu
In an accompanying online meeting of the Alliance of Academies, the procedure
will be discussed with cultural and political leaders in Europe.
Taking part are Liesbeth Bik (Akademie van Kunsten), Ferenc Czinki (Society of
Hungarian Authors), Marion Döring (European Film Academy), Gyözö Ferencz
(Széchenyi Academy of Letters and Arts), Wolfgang Kaleck (European Center for
Constitutional and Human Rights), Dominika Kasprowicz (Villa Decius in Krakow),
Christoph Markschies (Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities),
Jeanine Meerapfel (Akademie der Künste), Norbert Palz (Berlin University of the
Arts), Aleš Šteger (writer), Sabine Verheyen (European Parliament), Marina
Warner (Royal Society of Literature) and others.
Music: Floros Floridis (Clarinets), Elena Kakaliagou (French Horn), AoA Impro
Group
Chair: Annette Riedel, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Supported by the Federal Foreign Office and the Society of Friends of the
Akademie der Künste