Culture, a term of a complex and ambiguous meaning, needs to be viewed and understood as a process that is spiritual or material, but certainly living and changeable, and individual, and yet common, if observed through the prism of lifestyle and cultural heritage. Cultural policies are part of public policies, which are usually aimed at achieving set goals, i.e. the opposite of policies that direct their actions to processes and participants. The importance of European cultural policy issues and the shaping of cultural policies have historically been emphasized by various individuals, but European cultural policy became official in 1992. The goals, measures and instruments of European cultural policy have undergone changes over the decades, in parallel with social and economic changes. Throughout history, the European Union and the Council of Europe have developed many programs and projects that are directly related to culture and European cultural policies. The current cultural program of the European Union is Creative Europe, which combines the so far specific programs of support to the cultural and audio-visual sector into a joint program open to all cultural and creative industries with a budget of 1.46 billion euros for a seven-year programming period. Since the 1960s, the Council of Europe has understood the importance of European cultures as a link between peoples and has taken a very active approach to the promotion and protection of the common European heritage. Their most important program is the Cultural Routes or Cultural Itineraries program. The European Capital of Culture, originally called the European City of Culture, is one of the European Union’s most famous and significant projects, dating back to 1985. It is based on the idea of placing cities at the centre of cultural life, improving the quality of life through cultural and artistic expression.