Vivere insieme da eguali in dignità

Living Together as Equals in Dignity

Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni

On 8 May 2008, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Council of Europe launched the «White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue» with the title «Living Together as Equals in Dignity». Ms Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Director General of Education, Culture and Heritage, Youth and Sport and Coordinator for Intercultural Dialogue, explains in this article the meaning of this initiative. The White Paper is the end result of an open and inclusive consultation, which revealed a confidence that the Council of  Europe, because of its standards and its wealth of experience, was well placed to take on board this task. The White Paper contains a vast repertoire of political orientations as well as practical suggestions for action in this field. The emerging model of intercultural dialogue is a work in progress and a work of many hands from civilsociety associations to local authorities, including many other stakeholders: all together to build up a social and cultural model, for a rapidly changing Europe, which must allow all to «live together as equals in dignity».