Dyplomacja kulturalna Unii Europejskiej a idea międzykulturowości

The aim of the article is to answer the following questions: what is cultural diplomacy? What tools and instruments does it use? And eventually, whether the EU adopts a cultural diplomacy strategy and what role the issues of cross-cultural communication serve in it? Milton C. Cummings defines cultural diplomacy as “the exchange of ideas, information, values, systems, traditions, beliefs, and other aspects of culture, with the intention of fostering mutual understanding”. We assume that the cultural diplomacy of the European Union is an important element of shaping the relations between the EU and the rest of the world, so it serves a role in creating the EU image and in fulfilling its political interests. Our research hypothesis is: cultural diplomacy is an instrument for reconstruction of the European Community and may play a part in creating a bridge connecting the EU with the world. The research methods used in this article consisted primarily in collection and observation of facts, which was based on the analysis of sources: official EU documents: declarations, communications, reports, or parliamentary debates. Other useful sources were expert opinions, reports of institutions and of companies which carried out communication activities on behalf of the European Commission and the Committee of Regions.