Brussels, 08/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The cultural and creative industries and European cinema were central to the talks of the informal meeting of the culture and audiovisual affairs ministers, which was held in Brussels on 7 and 8 October, under the chairmanship of the minister for culture, audiovisual affairs, health and equal opportunities of the French Community of Belgium, Fadila Laanan. The European and national policies must do more to support the cultural and creative industries in order to allow them to make a full contribution to economic, technological and social innovation. The European cinema sector, which is an important vector for cultural diversity and an excellent creator of jobs, must also be supported, particularly in its digitalisation efforts. These, effectively, were the conclusions reached by the ministers at the end of their meeting.
In matters cultural, the ministers confirmed the need to work together to consolidate the place of the cultural and creative industries within the innovation policy of the European Union, in order to allow it to make a full contribution to the objectives of the strategy EUROPE 2020 and thus to bolster what culture can bring to economic and social development. The ministers also laid emphasis on the importance of developing the potential of the cultural and creative industries to link up with growth. They stressed the need explicitly to recognise the importance of the role of culture and the cultural and creative industries in the new European innovation policy, defining a strategic and horizontal approach for these industries, particularly SMEs, so that their creative potential and the specific characteristics of the cultural sector can be better taken on board. Access to funding and procedures must be facilitated, particularly in the European programmes, and skills must be strengthened, particularly by encouraging creative partnerships between art education, management schools, businesses and research laboratories. Lastly, fair pay is needed and the protection of creation must be tightened up by means of intellectual property rights. “It is vital that the member states and the European Commission reinforce the place of culture in the implementation of the strategy EUROPE 2020 (…). And it is vital that policies to support and strengthen innovation include the cultural and creative industries in their scope of action much more”, Laanan stressed. In conclusion, the ministers call on the European Council to recognise the potential of the cultural and creative industries in the future European innovation policy, to be adopted in December 2010.
As regards audiovisual, the ministers discussed the future of policies in support of European cinema. They discussed the revision of the cinema communication, which lays down the directives used by the European Commission to analyse the national cinema support regimes. They noted that the strong and diversified European production, and the promotion and distribution of these productions constitute cultural objectives shared by all. The ministers confirmed the conclusions of the colloquium held in Mons (5 and 6 July), stating that a revision of the communication was desirable and should take account of two elements: the extension of its scope of application to activities other than cinema production and the need for an approach integrating the cultural and industrial dimensions in such a way as to take better account of the diversity of the national and regional cinema support regimes.
“You did a great job (…). [Cultural] diversity is a great part of the digital agenda”, said Commissioner for the Digital Strategy Neelie Kroes. The commissioner confirmed that the Commission shared the approach of the ministers to the revision of the cinema communication, which is to extend its scope to activities other than cinema production. The rules on state aid also give support to national productions and provide clear provisions on this, she added. “The Three Musketeers (Ed: Commissioners Kroes, Vassiliou and Almunia) are ready to cooperate with you”, said the commissioner.
The contribution of small creative industries to the GDP of the European Union is 2.6%; in these times of crisis, we should be giving them the resources to produce more growth, stressed Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, who is responsible for the education, culture, youth and multilingualism portfolio. European cinema, especially art-house and experimental cinema, should receive particular attention these days, with the digitalisation of productions becoming urgent and necessary, said Vassiliou. “We had a very productive debate (…). We shall continue this discussion and work and see the best means we can to help this industry not only to survive but to increase”, the commissioner concluded. (I.L./transl.fl)