On Monday 20 October, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) discussed the AgoraEU programme (2028-2034) with the European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, Glenn Micallef.
“Faster, simpler, stronger”: with these words, the Commissioner summed up the proposal for the next multiannual financial framework and the AgoraEU programme, which is set to benefit from €8.6 billion (see EUROPE 13683/5) to support cultural and linguistic diversity, the competitiveness of creative sectors and the promotion of fundamental rights in the EU.
The Commissioner defended a programme “anchored in the fact that culture is a foundation for democracy and resilience” and endowed with “almost €2 billion” for the section devoted to culture - compared with €800 million previously - which should also include “a specific strategy” on artificial intelligence.
During the discussions, Zoltán Tarr (EPP, Hungarian) expressed concern about the consequences of merging the ‘culture’, ‘media’ and ‘citizenship’ strands and the risk of “losing their individual identity”. He also asked how the Commission intended to “protect creators from algorithms”.
Hannes Heide (S&D, German), who acknowledged AgoraEU’s ambition, expressed concern that Erasmus+ might be “underfunded”.
He also regretted the lack of transparency in the programme’s “control, monitoring and supervision”, and called for “independent producers” to be given access.
Laurence Farreng (Renew Europe, French), for her part, called for greater recognition of the music sector and urged that programmes be made “greener”, in particular “for the equipment and insulation of venues, and for aid to public authorities”.
Mr Micallef promised that the Commission would send “a strong signal” to the sector by maintaining Creative Europe, but also by doubling funding for culture compared to the previous programme. He reiterated that AgoraEU should “support cultural diversity in Europe”, improve working conditions for artists and support the digital transition, with the aim of “a strong budget that puts culture, values and resilience at the heart of our European Union”. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)