Public-private partnership in the field of cultural heritage protection: Eastern European experience and possibilities of its application in Russia

The study analyzes the legal and organizational experience gained in the countries of Southeastern and Eastern Europe (Croatia, Slovenia, Poland) in the implementation of public-private partnership (PPP) in activities related to the protection of cultural heritage. The main aim was to identify the possibilities of using this experience in relation to Russian socioeconomic realities. The range of research materials included regulatory legal documents of the Russian Federation and the countries under study, reports of the European INTERREG program, as well as the results of domestic and foreign research related to various aspects of implementing PPP in the field of heritage protection and culture in general. The research approach is based on the use of descriptive, comparative, historical genetic and formal legal methods. The author gives the definition of PPP, which the Russian legislation uses, reveals the positions of various researchers who expand the understanding of this term. He points out that the experience of the countries of Eastern Europe has not been sufficiently explored, which (despite the obvious contradictions and negative excesses inherent in the ideological aspect of their policy towards cultural heritage) could contribute to the improvement of Russian theoretical developments in this area. The author characterizes mechanisms for the creation and development of projects related to the revival of cultural monuments adopted in the European Union; studies the basics of the legalization of PPP in Croatia, Slovenia, and Poland; describes the main legislative and strategic documents defining the forms and methods of protecting cultural heritage in these countries; indicates the features inherent in the array of these objects in each of the considered countries. The author has learned that the implementation of practical PPP projects in Croatia, Slovenia, and Poland is limited by various reasons, including the incompleteness of cultural heritage registers; identified the prerequisites for the successful implementation of PPP contracts in the field of cultural heritage protection; and shown the sources of funding currently used in the studied countries. The author concludes that, under Russian conditions, a comprehensive borrowing of the PPP practice of Eastern European countries is impossible and inappropriate due to their subordination to the EU policy, on the one hand, and the fundamental incomparability of their national economies with the Russian economy in terms of total volume and the presence of large investing corporations, on the other.