Ernest Urtasun: “The Mondiacult of Barcelona will write the future of global culture.”

Starting today, for three days, Barcelona becomes the world's cultural capital. More than one hundred ministers of culture from around the world are meeting at the Fòrum International Convention Center to address the common challenges they face, from AI to cultural rights, including the need for culture to help change behaviors and perceptions in the face of the climate crisis. This is Mondiacult 2025, UNESCO's World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, which was inaugurated this morning by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay of France, and Minister of Culture Ernest Urtasun, whose ministry promoted the bid—which prevailed over Saudi Arabia—and has made a strong commitment to its success.

Urtasun spoke with La Vanguardia about Mondiacult and his two years in a Ministry whose policies—decolonization of museums and removal of human remains on display, return of seized works, and cultural rights for citizens—he believes have seen an "aggiornamento," an update.

Video

What is Mondiacult? And why should people care?

This is UNESCO's major World Summit for debate on cultural policies. More than 170 delegations will be attending, and more than 100 ministers of culture will be in Barcelona. Basically, Mondiacult has three main objectives. First, it will be a major meeting to defend multilateralism in the face of the attacks we are seeing on international law following the genocide in Gaza. It will be a great moment to demand a world with rules and where human rights and culture are respected. Second, culture is currently facing major challenges, and all countries are seeking answers. What role does culture play in the face of the climate emergency? How can we implement cultural policy amidst AI? And the role of culture in new global conflicts. And the culture of peace. All the participating countries will be trying to find shared answers.

And finally, there is a very clear objective: in 2030, the United Nations will approve the new Development Agenda. We want Mondiacult to call for culture to be a specific objective within it. If I may, I believe that in Barcelona we will write the future of global culture. The negotiation of the final declaration has been a very arduous process, which will continue during the Summit, but I believe it is very well-oriented, not only in the main areas—the role of culture in climate change, cultural rights, and AI—but also in understanding culture as a global public good.

We will defend multilateralism and international law in the face of the genocide in Gaza.

How do we explain to people that culture must be a global public good, on a par with education or healthcare?

Monserrat Roig said that culture is like the air you breathe. I believe we all need culture to live. We are deeply cultural beings who need reading and music. Culture, moreover, is what creates community, what makes us connect with each other. Therefore, it is a fundamental right of citizenship. It is sometimes forgotten, but in the United Nations Charter, in the Charter of Saint Francis, there is already a reference to culture. The thing is, like so many other things, this has been forgotten for many years. And the great revolution we've been seeing in cultural policies in recent years is considering culture as a fundamental citizen right at a global level. Some countries, like Brazil, have begun to do this, and we, too, in Spain, with the Ministry's launch of the Cultural Rights Plan.

It's a paradigm shift in how we understand culture, and I think it also has a lot to do with how the world emerged from the pandemic. During the pandemic, we realized how important culture was to our lives.

Culture will be reclaimed as a global public good at a time when the culture wars of recent years are beginning to be won by the most reactionary discourse.

It's clear to everyone that, amid the genocide taking place in Gaza and the criminal Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are at a time when rights, the great heritage we built around the United Nations after World War II, are being called into question. And Mondiacult will be an opportunity for culture to be a driving force in the defense of a global society based on cooperation, diversity, and understanding based on clear standards, which is what we want to defend.

I guarantee that the Gomis house in El Prat, a jewel of architecture, will be enjoyed.”

The United States has withdrawn from UNESCO and is not participating in this summit. Does that diminish the significance of the final declaration?

They won't participate. But the world we're heading toward is no longer the unipolar world that existed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We're in an increasingly multipolar world, where it's impossible to face the major global challenges without the support of many countries. It's impossible to confront the climate emergency without the major Asian economies and without talking to China. Europe must understand that the major global challenges don't only come from Washington. That's an idea of ​​a world that no longer exists.

To face the major global challenges, we will need to engage with many more people in a world that is increasingly diverse, increasingly at risk, and in which the United Nations system is under discussion. Europe must know how to navigate. Europe must also find the answers, including in the field of culture, with Latin America, Africa, and Asia. We must be able to engage with everyone. The United States isn't here, but there are more than 170 delegations and more than 100 countries that give us immense strength to advance our agenda.

You were talking about AI, what agreements have you reached?

In every country, we face the same situation: figuring out what regulatory tools we can implement in the face of real anxiety among creators that AI will replace them, a real risk. We're still discussing the final wording of the declaration, but the elements that concern Spain and many other countries will be clearly reflected: respect for copyright and the need for human creation to be respected. AI can be an instrument, but it can never replace the work of an artist or a writer, who must always be at the forefront of cultural creation.

You're halfway between the start and the possible end of your term. What's your assessment?

We have two years left, and we want to fully implement many of the things we've put in place. Culture in Spain is experiencing an extraordinary moment. In terms of sectoral policies, we've managed to strengthen all areas of culture in Spain. Film is currently doing very well, and we've reinforced key areas, such as support for screenwriters. And we're helping theaters with Film Schools and Senior Cinema. We're trying to support the great moment film is experiencing. In the book and publishing industries, which have been booming since the pandemic, we've boosted the internationalization process. In the performing arts, we're working on the reform of the National Institute of Statistics (INAEM). We're supporting a very positive moment.

And then we've managed to create a new public policy framework through the Cultural Rights Plan, where we're helping to address the barriers to our citizens' cultural access and participation. And then we've opened some debates that were essential in this country, such as the issue of new museography in our museums with a decolonial perspective. We're halfway through our term with many projects underway. We've implemented a kind of update to our country's cultural policies.

We wanted to ask you about some of the controversies that have arisen in recent months. Should the Ministry have intervened directly in the Sijena paintings given the potential risks they might face?

We have a ruling that binds all administrations. Obviously, there have been meetings of the board of trustees to analyze the situation, in which we have been fully involved. But I believe that just as there has been a time for justice and a time for politics, I believe there is a time for the technicians; we must let them work. It's a debate that generates a lot of concern, but after the ruling, I believe it's time for the technicians to tell us the state of conservation and how it can be carried out.

Sijena: There was a time for justice, another for politics; now it's time for technicians.

They've purchased the Casa Gomis in El Prat as a cultural asset, and at the same time, they've approved the airport expansion. How do the two things fit together?

I ask the Socialist Party to be consistent. It's inconsistent to launch a state pact against climate change and at the same time continue expanding ports and airports when we know that the climate emergency forces us to shift air traffic to rail. Continuing to think about endless airport expansion in the midst of a climate emergency makes no sense. That said, we acquired the Casa Gomis because we wanted to protect one of the great architectural gems in Catalonia, and we will continue to do so. We are working with Aena (National Agency for the Protection of Catalonia) to see how this house can continue to be enjoyed. And I guarantee that this will be the case.

Israel at Eurovision. Can culture also be a weapon of boycott, or should it be a bridge that unites?

Spanish culture has rallied around Palestine, and I want to express my gratitude for all the support. I also know that for some Spanish artists, taking a stand abroad can have consequences for their professional careers; they do so out of courage. They have the full support and sympathy of this ministry against what is probably the greatest atrocity committed in the world in the 21st century. As for Eurovision, we know the extent to which major cultural and sporting events serve to whitewash a certain situation. We have the experience of how effective the boycott of apartheid in South Africa was in ending that atrocious regime. And in a situation of genocide, we cannot normalize the presence of Israel in cultural and sporting activities.

We cannot normalize Israel's presence at events like Eurovision.

Have you made progress in the decentralization of the Ministry that so many ministers have attempted?

We are deeply committed to it. The State Public Library in Barcelona will be one of the most important investments the Ministry has underway, almost 80 million euros. And since I arrived, I have unblocked the Public Library in Córdoba, announced the expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts in Seville, we have unblocked the Public Library in Vigo, the Castellón Archive, and the Museum of Aesthetic Arts in Almagro. We have continued to support the blast furnace project in the Basque Country. And secondly, I want to call for a Ministry of Culture that acts as a Ministry of the country's plurinationality and multiculturalism. We have expanded support for co-official languages ​​through book and film grants, and we are also working intensively to protect non-co-official languages, such as Aragonese and Asturian. We want to strengthen the country's cultural structure with major infrastructure projects throughout the country and clearly defend Spain's plurinational character.

He said he wanted to be a minister who protects the industry and cultural workers. Is he succeeding?

I believe we are fundamentally a protectionist ministry, one that defends Malraux's old idea of ​​cultural exception. I have been very clear about this with Donald Trump's attempts to attack European cultural regulations, which, in the area of ​​cinema, for example, protect our linguistic diversity. Yes, we are a protectionist ministry, and I have also tried to protect the weakest or most precarious part of the cultural world, and we are taking important steps. There is an issue with the Artist Statute that is pending and that I will try to resolve next year, which is that of Social Security. We still have a system of contributions for self-employed cultural workers that is not in line with their reality.