The Venice Biennale celebrates artistic freedom, not an aggressive regime’s art

Written declaration No. 837 | Doc. 16397 | 24 April 2026

Signatories:

Ms Sandra ZAMPA, Italy, SOC ; Ms Boriana ÅBERG, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Mr Marek BOROWSKI, Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Christophe BRICO, Monaco, EPP/CD ; Ms Natalia DAVIDOVICI, Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Mr Piero FASSINO, Italy, SOC ; Ms Sascha FAXE, Denmark, SOC ; Ms María FERNÁNDEZ, Spain, SOC ; Ms Aurora FLORIDIA, Italy, SOC ; Lord Michael GERMAN, United Kingdom, ALDE ; Mr Gerardo GIOVAGNOLI, San Marino, SOC ; Mr Antonio GUTIÉRREZ LIMONES, Spain, SOC ; Ms Bisera KOSTADINOVSKA-STOJCHEVSKA, North Macedonia, SOC ; Mr Marc LAMUÀ, Spain, SOC ; Ms Luz MARTINEZ SEIJO, Spain, SOC ; Ms Wanda NOWICKA, Poland, SOC ; Mr George PAPANDREOU, Greece, SOC ; Mr Georgios STAMATIS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Ms Susanna VELA, Andorra, SOC ; Mr Francesco VERDUCCI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Sergiy VLASENKO, Ukraine, EPP/CD

This written declaration does not reflect the position of the Assembly; only of those members that have signed it. It will not be considered further by the Assembly.

We, the undersigned, declare the following:

We believe that the Venice Biennale offers a unique opportunity to reaffirm, through art, the founding principles of the Council of Europe: democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

We consider it a grave error to allow the Russian pavilion to host works selected by the Russian Federation, which is responsible for launching a war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022 and the war crimes and crimes against humanity that followed and which continue to affect the Ukrainian population to this day.

We therefore call on the Biennale to send a clear message in support of artistic freedom, which must know no limits or political censorship, as provided for in Article 33 of the Italian Constitution, Articles 19 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

We call on the Venice Biennale to provide a platform for the hundreds of artists affected by censorship and restrictive measures imposed by the Russian government, giving a voice to those who embody the true spirit of that country’s culture, which has for too long been stifled by repression and authoritarianism.