The plans, which were endorsed by all 28 members of the committee, would see sites or monuments that "have played a significant role in European history or culture or in European integration" awarded 'European Heritage' status to help raise awareness among young people of their common cultural heritage.
MEPs also hope that the label will enhance EU citizens' sense of European identity and help the authorities to promote the sites as tourist destinations.
They suggested European Heritage status could be awarded to places of remembrance or for "intangible heritage" associated with a place, and did not rule out contemporary heritage from the scheme.
"The sites would have to ensure access for the widest possible public, including disabled people," the committee insisted.
War memorial controversy
War commemorations are not often discussed in Brussels and the EU institutions do not mark the Belgian bank holiday of Armistice Day on 11 November to avoid offending German sensibilities.
But European Commission officials quoted by the Daily Telegraph confirmed that the heritage labels will be used on war memorial sites.
"Places of remembrance clearly have their place in European history, not only as memorials to those who lost their lives but also as places where visitors can reflect on how and why Europe has successfully avoided major conflicts for more than 65 years," an EU official told the newspaper.
"They might also think, or learn, about the contribution of the EU to peace and stability."
Meanwhile, despite stressing that "the attribution of the European label shall not entail any obligation of an urban planning, judicial, landscaping, mobility or architectural nature," MEPs decided member states would be responsible for monitoring the sites.
Strengthening citizens' 'sense of belonging'
Hailing the vote, French MEP Marie-Thérèse Sanchez-Schmid, the European People's Party group's rapporteur on the file, said "this label will strengthen European citizens' sense of belonging to the European Union, by relying on the history and the heritage they share, as well as on the value of diversity".
She also expressed hope that it would encourage intercultural dialogue. To this end, the committee suggested that "special consideration" could be given to sites that had been jointly nominated by more than one country.
MEPs insisted that member states should pre-select up to two sites to be awarded the European Heritage Label every two years instead of annually as originally proposed by the European Commission.
A maximum of one site per country would then be chosen by the Commission in conjunction with "13 independent experts" nominated by the EU executive, the Parliament, the Council and the Committee of the Regions.
Sanchez-Schmid expressed her satisfaction that her group's proposal to award the label every two years instead of every year had prevailed. "Awarding the label every year could contribute to 'diluting' its prestige," she warned.
Sites that already hold the European Heritage Label under an existing intergovernmental programme (see 'Background') will have to reapply under the new scheme.
These include the Gdańsk shipyards in Poland, birthplace of the Solidarność trade union which helped trigger the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, and the house of Robert Schuman, the French statesman considered as one of the founding fathers of the EU.
The Commission hopes the scheme will create new opportunities for Europeans to learn about the history and building of the EU, and "the democratic values and human rights that underpin European integration," according to Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.
The proposals will now be discussed by member states in the Council of Ministers before being submitted to the European Parliament for adoption in plenary in December.
