Brussels, 02/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Culture and the creative industries make a considerable contribution to European economic growth, whilst linguistic and cultural diversity has a particularly positive impact on the employment market, Géza Szöcs, Minister of State of Culture of the Ministry of Natural Resources in Hungary, told a conference which was held in Budapest on 28 February. Entitled The Contribution of Culture to the Implementation of the EUROPE 2020 Strategy, the conference laid emphasis on the major role to be played by culture in terms of active citizenship and volunteering, in the framework of the European Year of Volunteering 2011.
The commissioner for education, culture, youth and multilingualism, Androulla Vassiliou, who also attended, welcomed the fact that this meeting was being held at a time when the political decision-makers are discussing the budgetary framework for the period 2014-2020. These decision-makers must understand that culture is a source of value, particularly of economic value, and that it therefore has a contribution to make to growth and job creation, she stressed. The commissioner highlighted the diversity of activities carved out by the cultural industries, from preserving the cultural heritage to the visual arts, television, video games and architecture, design and fashion. Currently, 5 million people work in these areas, which contribute 3% of Union GDP. Going on to mention the cultural subsidies in the region of €6 billion for the current financial framework (2007-2013), Vassiliou stressed that it was the responsibility of the member states to define the proper priorities to divide up this budget, and that these priorities must work towards renovating monuments and creating cultural institutions. The president of the committee on culture and education of the European Parliament, Doris Pack (EPP, Germany), drew attention to the fact that the British film The King's Speech, which won several Oscars a few days ago, could never have been made without the support of the European programme MEDIA. (I.L./transl.fl)