EUNIC is a network of the international cultural relations institutes from the member states of the European Union. EUNIC Berlin consists of 14 European cultural institutes, cultural representatives of EU embassies as well as associated members who meet up regularly to discuss matters of common interest. The European Union National Institutes for Culture use existing European structures to work together and promote joint initiatives.

EUNIC seeks to facilitate cultural co-operation, to create lasting partnerships between professionals, to encourage greater understanding and awareness of the diverse European cultures and to encourage greater language learning. A central aspiration is to overcome divisions, to focus on our common European roots and to celebrate Europe’s richness and diversity of culture, arts and language.

An association of European cultural institutes in Berlin - GEK (Gemeinschaft der europäischen Kulturinstitute in Berlin) - was founded in 2003. It emerged from a collaborative fringe event at the 2002 exhibition “Greek Classical Age: Idea and Reality” in the Martin-Gropius-Bau museum. In May 2003, GEK held a symposium in the German Foreign Ministry on the European perspective on cultural politics entitled “u.A.w.g.“ In 2006 and 2007 the European cultural institutes held an Open Day in Berlin.

During the same period, the European Union started to create partnerships between public organisations working in international cultural relations and cooperation under the umbrella of the “European Union National Institutes for Culture“ (EUNIC). In 2006, GEK joined the EUNIC network and changed its name to EUNIC Berlin.