In June 2008, during the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) heads meeting, Mr. Horia-Roman Patapievici, the president of the Romanian Cultural Institute, was elected as second vice-president of this important cultural network. Mr. H.-R. Patapievici held the vice-presidency of EUNIC for two years and since June 2010, he is the president of the organization.
EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture, www.eunic-europe.eu) is a network of European national cultural institutes, established in Prague in 2006, following the initiative of the British Council. Today, EUNIC is comprised of national culture organizations from 26 countries of the European Union, some of them very well known through their impact on international cultural relations – British Council, Institut Français, Goethe-Institut, Instituto Cervantes, Instituto Camões, Italian Cultural Institutes.
Romania, through its Romanian Cultural Institute, joined this network in June 2007. The meeting to establish the EUNIC in Romania cluster took place during the spring of 2008. EUNIC aims to become a global cultural voice for a united Europe and an institutional representative of all national cultural organizations to the European Union.
Ambassador Emil Brix of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs served as president of EUNIC in 2007. In 2008 the presidency went to Hans-Georg Knopp (Germany, Goethe-Institut), in 2009 Finn Andersen (Denmark, Danske Kulturinstitut) took over the presidency, and since June 2010 Horia-Roman Patapievici (Romania, RCI) is the president of EUNIC network.
