RTE

The European cultural Season, this year even more than in others, seems to us to be an extremely ambitious and relevant event, and hence that one creates enthusiasm. The fact is that on the occasion of the French presidency of the European Union, for the first time, it is not a point of honouring just one European country, but rather of welcoming to France the cultural creativity of the other twenty-six member countries. Thanks to this initiative, the public will have an opportunity to learn more, thanks to their artistic productions, about those twenty-six countries, some of which are familiar to us, but others less so. We see the European cultural Season as an opportunity for exchanges and meetings involving all European countries. An opportunity to celebrate everything that we share with those countries as well as realising the extent to which we enrich ourselves thanks to our differences…

Why have you decided to support this event?
RTE is an eminently European business. Not only in its discourse or its aspirations, but also in reality: electric Europe has been a reality for 50 years. When a European turns on the light, he does not know whether the electricity he consumes comes from his country or from some other European country. While the European Union groups twenty-seven countries, electric Europe "connects" thirty countries, both physically and symbolically… For those reasons, RTE is essentially an eminently European business: our success can be measured, in particular, by our ability to work everyday with our European partners. We count on them, as they count on us. Thus every day we ensure the stability of our networks and work together every day in meeting tomorrow's challenges.

In addition, what other event constitutes a better incarnation of RTE's European reality than the European cultural Season? In our business, it is a question of interconnections among networks, and the European cultural Season, by making France a venue for expression and exchanges among the twenty-seven member countries, serves the same purpose: interconnecting our countries, our peoples, our cultures. So we have decided to support this event since it matches up - both in its ambition and in its concrete reality - with RTE's ambitions and realities. Finally, in less general terms, the exposition called "Spanish night" seems to us to be particularly relevant for RTE. The fact is that this event's ambition seems to us in keeping with the ambitions of RTE and of its counterpart, Red Electrica de Espana (REE), which cooperate closely and naturally on the European electricity market, particularly by way of the project for creation of a new electric interconnection between France and Spain. So it seems natural to us to support this exhibition, and to aspire to the excellence incarnated by the creativity to be presented there. 

More generally, what kinds of support does your company provide for cultural activities?
Since its creation, the RTE business has always wanted to show its attachment to cultural activities, in all of their forms:
• RTE is a partner in the Long-Thiébaut music competition,
• RTE was a partner in 2007 of the European dance association called Europa Danse,
• Every year RTE organises the president's best wishes ceremony in a Paris museum (museum of modern art, musée Guimet…)
• RTE has supported creation of an opera-ballet (with planted sets) at the Royal Opera of the château de Versailles,
• RTE has supported publication of several art books.

• Updated: 25.06.2008

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