The European Parliament wants to set aside more funds for the Creative Europe programme after 2020. This is the thrust of a resolution adopted by a large majority of MEPs (501 to 51, with 42 abstentions) on Thursday 28 March (see EUROPE 12198/28).
This report, drafted by Silvia Costa (S&D, Italy), constitutes the European Parliament's negotiating position on this sectoral programme. The financial amounts will be discussed in parallel in the context of the next multiannual financial framework.
In concrete terms, MEPs are calling for €2.806 billion in constant prices to be set aside to support the European cultural and creative sectors and audiovisual works. The European Commission, for its part, proposed an allocation of €1.850 billion in current prices, corresponding to an increase of €400 million compared to the current programme. However, the two amounts cannot be compared; current prices are based on a particular year while constant prices are adjusted for inflation.
Other minor changes
For the rest, the resolution takes up the main lines of the Commission's proposal, namely a programme consisting of three parts: (1) media (audiovisual sector); (2) culture (cultural and design sectors, except audiovisual); (3) cross-sectoral. As regards the scope of the text, MEPs want to include “festivals and design, including fashion design” in the cultural and design sector. Among the specific objectives of the programme, they are adding the promotion of the “mobility of artists and operators in the cultural and design sectors, as well as the circulation of their work”. They also provide more details on the evaluation committee composed of external experts; they specify that the experts must have professional experience related to the field being evaluated and may seek the advice of experts from the country of application. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)