CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT - ELEMENT OF ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SOCIAL COHESION IN THE EU

Culture is a sector of the economy which has an additional dimension compared with other sectors. This additional dimension helps to improve well-being, but also to achieve social inclusion, access to better education, etc. Culture is also a powerful tool to communicate values and to promote public interest objectives. Culture has gained increased relevance in a globalized and multicultural world. It can be regarded as an ambassador and as a vehicle for European values such as tolerance, democracy, diversity, pluralism. Culture contributes directly to the economic development because it provides consumer products, such as cultural goods and services incorporated in books, movies, music, audio, concerts, etc. Benefits brought by culture to the European economy are higher than mere consumption of cultural products. Similarly, culture is used in various non-cultural sectors as a source of innovation and creativity, and innovation is a complex process, which combines multiple dimensions, such as technology, science, management and certainly culture. Creative industries have a considerable impact on national economies, being at the intersection of many fields such as creativity, culture, business, technology, contributing to the growth and economic development. Studies conducted in European countries show the impact of culture and creative industries on the whole economy. They recorded significant figures in terms of turnover, value added to GNP, and in terms of the number of jobs created.