Brussels, 18/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 March, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou (education, culture, youth and multilingualism) reiterated their strong support for the MEDIA fund for cinema. They described the “rumours” whereby the Commission intends to abolish this programme and reduce funding (see also EUROPE 10330 and 10329) as “completely unfounded”, adding that, on the contrary, “our plan is to strengthen the programme in future”. According to Vassiliou, “our support for film distribution, development and digitisation fills a funding gap - and it is good for cultural diversity, competitiveness and jobs. Without it, audiences would see fewer European films”.
The above statements aim to reassure a number of representatives of the cinema industry, who above all represent the ARP (civil society of “auteurs-réalisateurs-producteurs”). They were in Brussels on Thursday 17 March to hand over to President Barroso a petition signed by 1,800 well-known figures of the cinema industry calling for the MEDIA programme's independence to be kept within the EU financial framework after 2013 and refusing to see it abandoned or merged as part of a broader programme. The ARP, with over 300 representatives from the cinema industry, attended a public consultation the next day, Friday 18 March, on how best the MEDIA programme can respond to current and future challenges. (F.G./transl.jl)