Cultural Funding Shows that the EU Keeps Diversity Within the Continent Alive and Well-Preserved

In his heavy Maltese accent, the middle-aged man declared, "You know the Europeans give us money, so we get to renovate all this." Pointing at the big construction site in the middle of the historic town center, the man intended to be both comical and proud. As he casually struck up a conversation with me in my little self-guided tour of his hometown, he was clearly glad to see that there were so many foreigners who were willing to walk its winding stone-cobbled streets, gawking at the Instagram-ready white-washed houses fronted with potted plants.

European money's power is ubiquitous in this history-soaked island, beyond the little town square ready for its fresh layer of polished stone tiles. Heritage Malta, the government agency responsible for running the country's various heritage sites and associated museums, frequently displays the blue-and-yellow-star flag of Europe on their billboards, with a message thanking the European Union (EU) for the donations that made preservation and conservation happen. Sometimes the billboards even point to particular European countries and cities that donated funds and expertise for the projects.

The result of European money is nothing to be laughed at, especially, as I so often reiterate for this blog now, a small place of a little more than half a million residents. The stone ramparts and houses within them are often fully updated with modern amenities (air conditioning, clean toilets, ambient lighting, bilingual signage with audioguides in even more languages...). There is no doubt that Heritage Malta would not get to hire so many workers to oversee so many heritage sites and pull in so much revenue from ticket sales had European money been few and far between.

More notably, European money's power goes beyond just keeping history alive. It also encourages more intangible efforts of discovering new talent that help Maltese culture evolve to also look forward, not just back. A stately historical mansion at the entrance of Valletta (the capital city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site that no doubt gets plenty of funding) is renovated to be a modern art center, hosting exhibitions by a variety of up-and-coming local artists using mediums to express thoughts not commonly associated with historical Malta. They certainly have European money to thank for the increased exposure.

That increased exposure points to another important aspect of European money's power that is not purely financial. Wherever European money goes, Europeans themselves can follow. What they bring are of course additional tourist revenues, but more importantly, a greater interest in Malta among denizens and even politicians of other European states. The resulting enhanced stature of Malta on the European and international stage can be a virtuous cycle, bringing in more attention, more money, and more tourists for the country.

EU's cultural heritage funding is a little-appreciated aspect of the political grouping's positive influence on its smaller members like Malta. As Eurosceptics take hold of political power in larger members (Hungary, Netherlands, and Italy all come to mind), it should go without saying that the EU has done more than take away the sovereignty of nation-states and saddled them with unwanted policies and immigrants, as it is so often accused of doing. The redistribution of its resources, both financial and human, has helped to stitch the continent together in a distinctively cultural way that countries on other continents can only envy.

Indeed, at the heart of the so-called European project is not merely some sinister plot to turn Europeans into one people at the expense of the individual cultures of every nation and every people that belongs to it. Rather, as its motto "United in Diversity" so clearly implies, the European project is also about ensuring that the visible parts of diversity are maintained for future generations. Nowhere is this purpose clearer than concerted efforts and funding to preserve what would otherwise be obscure heritage sites on the periphery of the continent, as Malta's can certainly be interpreted to be.

So before falling into any reductionist trap of thinking about the role of the EU as promoting Europe at the expense of its individual countries, it is worth recalling the pride of the Maltese as they show off the results of European money to foreign tourists (most of whom are other Europeans). To some, it might be paradoxical that European money is used to promote something that is distinctively Maltese and not found anywhere else on the continent, but for a small country like Malta, that cultural aspect of the EU's power is definitely worth supporting.