On Friday and Saturday, 25 and 26 February 2005, at the initiative of the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission, an international high visibility two-days conference on the Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures took place in the prestigious setting of the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Not only José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, strongly underlined the importance of culture binding us together as Europeans, but also Jan Figel' set out very clearly how his Commission is intending to re-enforce the cultural dimension within the process of European integration. It is in particular the festivals the Commissioner is attributing a lot of importance in this light. Please read the entire speech by clicking here.