Brussels, 26/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 26 November, the culture ministers managed to agree on a partial general orientation for the period 2014-2020 on the new programme “Creative Europe” (which will take over from the Culture, Media and Media Mundus programmes). An initial partial general orientation on the text was adopted at the last session of the Culture Council, in May. This time, the agreement has been extended to provisions concerning the guarantee mechanism, which proposes to improve access to funding for small and medium-sized enterprises active in the culture and creative sectors. Managed by the European Investment Fund and with a budgetary envelope of €210 million, this mechanism is designed to cover the granting of bank loans to small operators up to €1 billion. In May, the member states showed themselves to be in favour of this new instrument, but sceptical as to the details of its functioning. The aim of this mechanism is to support the sector, which has been facing problems for years in terms of loans and funding. . We are now waiting for the opinion of the European Parliament, said the Cypriot Minister George Demosthenous, who chaired the discussions. He welcomed the balance achieved regarding the participation of the member states in this mechanism, a balance it was important to reach, for the smaller member states in particular. Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, who is responsible for education, youth, culture and multilingualism, said that she was confident that a compromise could be reached rapidly on the subject with the European Parliament. (IL/transl.fl)