I put professionalism and hard work, which I never compromise, first in my work

Deyana Danailova, Director of the International Cultural Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Culture

For more than 20 years Deyana Danailova has been working in the Ministry of Culture. Those who know her say that ministers come and go but she is still there, with her expert opinion, activity, commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism. When I tell her this, she smiles and says that during all these years she has been working for the image of the ministry. And even if she has put up with some things, she has never made a compromise at the expense of professionalism.

Currently, Mrs. Danailova is in charge of the International Cultural Policy Directorate. Prior to that she has covered all the levels leading her to this position. For over ten years she worked in the Department of Bilateral Cooperation and Bulgarian Cultural Institutions Abroad, and later in the European Integration Sector. In 1998 she became the head of the International Cultural Cooperation and European Integration Department. Beside her work in the Ministry, she is the Bulgarian representative in the Managing Committee of Culture with the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and for a second mandate she has been on its executive board. She is also a member of many other organizations working for Bulgaria’s accession into the European Union.

Mrs. Danailova, the Directorate you are in charge of has two main directions of work. One of them, the European integration, is particularly topical today with the closing of negotiations and the forthcoming signing of the Accession Treaty. What are their main aspects in the sphere of culture?
The closing of negotiations in June 2004 is an exceptional achievement for Bulgaria, taking into consideration that the whole bulk of negotiation material is quite complex and enormous in volume. The start was opening the first six chapters in 2000. Among them was the chapter of which the Ministry of Culture was in charge – Culture and Audio and Video Policy. In compliance with the government-established mechanism for coordinating the country’s preparations to join the EU, an interdepartmental working group was set whose main function was to constantly compare the membership requirements, ensuing from the legislation of the European community, and the recommendations contained in the European Commission’s Regular Reports on Bulgaria’s progress towards the EU. As the head of Working Group 20, Culture and Audio and Video Policy, I would like to thank all the group members for their efforts in an exceptionally dynamic and tense situation. Due to everybody’s prompt and adequate reaction we were able to close the chapter in 2000 ahead of schedule. We consider this an undeniable success, as in comparative terms we got ahead of some countries, which were negotiating at that time and today are already EU members.

One of the reasons for the closing of negotiations ahead of schedule was the level of harmonization between Bulgarian legislation and the European standards we achieved in that specific area. What does this actually mean? In the sphere of culture no harmonization is needed, as the contents of acquis communautaire come down to Resolutions of the European Parliament and the Council regarding the setting of cultural programs. Prior to 1999, Bulgaria had the experience from its participation in the European Council programs “Kaleidoscope – Support for Artistic and Cultural Activities of European Dimension”, “Ariana – Support in the Sphere of Books, Translation and Reading” and “Raphael – Activities in the Field of Cultural Heritage”. The framework program “Culture 2000” started in 2000 uniting all the above. Bulgaria, as all the other negotiating countries, joined the program in 2001. Initially, the end of the program was set for the late 2004, but it was subsequently moved to the end of 2006. Bulgaria takes a regular part in the program with a variety of projects and each year the degree of success of the projects initiated by Bulgarian institutions and artists is going up, as is the number of projects financed by the general budget of the program.

I would hate to omit initiatives like “European Capital of Culture” and “European Month of Culture”. With a Resolution of the Council of Ministers of Culture of the EU member countries, in 1999 Plovdiv was elected to host the “European Month of Culture” program. It is hardly necessary to remind of the success and wide response to this large-scale initiative, which turned this Bulgarian city into a parallel European cultural capital together with the German town of Waimar.

The negotiation matter in the field of audio and video policy is considerably more complicated. The European association agreement requires the countries to harmonize their policy regarding the regulation of trans-border transmission, technical standards and stimulation of the European audio and video industry with a view to its modernization and consolidation. And though nationally the Ministry of Culture does not directly concern the electronic media, it was assigned to undertake actions to harmonize the national legislation with the European standards and particularly with the Television Without Borders Directive. Bulgaria got a high evaluation from the European experts on the Radio and Television Act, adopted in 1998, and also on its subsequent amendments. Taking into consideration the positive results, the European Commission invited Bulgaria to participate in the program “Media II” in 2000, as well as in the following initiatives in the field of audio and video policy “Media Plus” and “Media Education”. The main goal of these programs is to contribute to the consolidation of the European audiovisual production and to raising its market competitiveness.

A few words on the participation of the Ministry of Culture in the Phare program. In 1998–1999 the project on the development of Bulgarian culture was successfully implemented, one of its visible results being the opening of a Euro-Bulgarian Cultural Centre. It was followed by projects on development of cultural tourism and consolidation of the administrative capacity of the Council for Electronic Media, which are still going on.

Multilateral cooperation does not boil down merely to the process of Bulgaria joining the European Union. Particular attention should be paid to our relations with the Council of Europe, UNESCO, UNDP, etc. In recent years, Bulgaria has managed to join many of these organizations’ projects in the field of culture and cultural heritage, applying an exceptionally intelligent approach at that, which turned our country into a leader of a kind in terms of specific regional programs for Southeast Europe.