On Monday 31 March, the European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef, presented the broad outlines of the future ‘Cultural Compass’, the strategic framework designed to “integrate culture into all EU policies” and “improve its economic potential”, to MEPs gathered in Strasbourg for the Parliament's plenary session.
The initiative, which will result in a proposal by the end of 2025, is also intended to affirm the place of culture in the democratic and geopolitical transformations currently facing the European Union.
“What we are proposing is an ambitious policy initiative that unleashes the potential of the cultural and creative sectors to adapt, innovate and strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and societal resilience”, said Glenn Micallef, adding that culture is “the beating heart of Europe”.
While consultations have been open since 21 March (see EUROPE 13605/13), many MEPs have welcomed the ambition of the project, while calling for financial guarantees.
Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski (EPP, Polish) called for “financial reinforcement, especially for programmes such as Erasmus+ and Creative Europe”.
Hannes Heide (S&D, Austrian) agreed, saying that the sector was “underfunded compared to other sectors” and that “the new multiannual financial framework must guarantee a significantly increased budget for Creative Europe”.
Several elected representatives stressed the need to protect artists. “We need to improve conditions for cultural professionals”, argued Nela Riehl (Greens/EFA, German), urging that “artistic freedom” be “guaranteed” by legislation on a par with the Media Freedom Act.
According to Laurence Farreng (Renew Europe, French), the aim was to defend “a protective status for artists” and “recognition of copyright in the face of artificial intelligence”. The French MEP felt that abandoning this fight would be “an historic mistake”.
The links between culture and democracy were also highlighted.
Hélder Sousa Silva (EPP, Portuguese) said that “culture offers an essential defence against disinformation”, while Nikos Pappas (The Left, Greek), who spoke of acts of vandalism against works of art in his country, sounded the alarm about “threats to freedom of expression”.
However, some elected representatives were more critical. This was particularly the case for Zsuzsanna Borvendég (ESN, Hungarian), who sees the future ‘Cultural Compass’ as “a strategy that serves globalisation and weakens traditions”. Ivaylo Valchev (ECR, Bulgarian), for his part, called for “realistic programmes, without ideology”.
“What we need to do now is to be more coherent, more ambitious, and to guide our actions so that the cultural sectors reach their full potential”, assured Glenn Micallef at the end of the debate. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)