The European Commission is proposing a slight increase in the Creative Europe programme’s budget as part of the next multiannual financial framework while reducing the share reserved for inter-sectoral action (third section). This was revealed in its draft regulation presented on Wednesday, 30 May at the same time as other “people” related budget initiatives (see other articles).
The new Creative Europe programme for 2021-2027 aims to pursue the following objectives: promoting European cooperation in the areas of diversity, cultural and linguistic heritage and increasing the competitiveness of the culture and creative sectors, particularly the audiovisual sector. Similarly to the previous programme, the new programme is based on the MEDIA chapter, Culture and the trans-sectoral section. The budget has been slightly increased to €1.85 billion (as opposed to €1.4 billion for 2014-2020). Although the MEDIA and Culture sections will follow this development, this is not the case with the trans-sectoral section, which has suffered significant cuts (a third less funding).
Programme in detail
The Commission is proposing to allocate €1.081 billion for the next seven years to support the cinematographic and audiovisual industries. It is suggesting that implementation for these industries is simplified and streamlined by, for example, bringing together the beneficiaries and reducing the number of subsidy agreements and related payment transactions. It is also proposing to introduce results-based incentives with regard to their ability to reach out to a wider public. It will be through this section that an online repertoire of European films will be set up.
The Commission is then proposing a €609 million budget for promoting the European culture and creative sectors. This section will support cooperation projects, networks and platforms in an effort to link up talented artists throughout Europe and help creatives cooperate beyond borders.
In its trans-sectoral section, the Commission is proposing to reserve the amount of €160 million to support “innovative action whose transversal features produce added value”. It is in this regard that the reference is included to the structural changes encountered by the media sector. The Commission proposal can be consulted at the following link: https://bit.ly/2J10kKb . (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)