"The Minister of Culture has a really hard work to develop initiatives in a country where culture does not get the importance that it should have," said Mathias Laffolie, director of The Swedish Association of Film Directors. "Nevertheless, this speech did not contain so many visions and reminded too much of a very typical political discourse."

"I felt insulted by the Minister’s speech"

"I think the speech pronounced by the Swedish Ministry of Culture did not stress any important issue for us artists," said Sophia Kosmaoglou from Greece. "I felt insulted by a speech full of banalities and very typical remarks. Furthermore, it was not honest as it did not address any question of importance. We artists are the first to recognize the importance of a well educated audience. But in this kind of event, you have to go further and really deal with the important issues like Federico Mayor did yesterday, for example. You cannot only talk the development of the libraries in your country in a meeting like this one." Kosmaglou was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and lives and works in Athens. She has participated in exhibitions all over Europe and recently her works were presented in the 5th International Istanbul Biennial (1997) and International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid (1998).

"The Minister showed the benefit of a long standing policy."

"It was very interesting to hear that in Sweden the cooperation among Ministers it's a fact and the cultural policy is a question of Cabinet," comments Ruta Caupovo, from the Council of the Creative Unions of Latvia, after Marita Ulvskog«s speech. "In Latvia in the last seven years we have had 5 Ministers and each new one starts from the beginning with new priorities and plans of action."

"She spelled out the main features of cultural policy."

"She made a very nice speech in a very effective way showing that culture is deeply related with development," said Fakhar Zaman General Secretary of the International Congress of Writers Artists and Intellectuals. "She impressingly outlined the main features of Swedish cultural policy. She was very emphatic on the role of the artist for the stabilization and refining of societies."

V.M.