On Wednesday 17 April, the Member States' ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) adopted a negotiating mandate on the post-2020 Creative Europe programme. This mandate, which is almost identical to the partial political agreement (‘general approach’) adopted by the European Ministers of Culture in December 2018, represents the position that the EU Council will defend before the future Parliament (see EUROPE 12164/18).
The proposal for a new Creative Europe programme aims to promote European culture, which contributes to the formation of a European identity.
As detailed in our columns, the main change concerns the EU Youth Orchestra and the European Film Academy: the EU Council version no longer provides for an overriding statute for these two structures, a statute that allowed them to be treated more favourably (deletion of Article 14).
Another notable point is that national delegations have strengthened respect for equal treatment between women and men in the provisions on subsidies (Article 13), where the European Commission initially provided for criteria relating to “balance” between women and men.
The other relatively minor changes concern the label of excellence (Article 2) and the specific objectives of the programme (Article 3).
Money, the crux. The EU Council's negotiating mandate does not address the figures, as the budgetary allocation of the programme should be addressed in the negotiations on the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework.
However, the Commission's proposal to allocate €1.85 billion (at current prices) to the programme is included in brackets. The European Parliament wants to drastically increase this amount. It calls for €2.806 billion in constant prices to support the European cultural and creative sectors and audiovisual works (see EUROPE 12224/10). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)