On Thursday 26 March, as part of the Séries Mania festival in Lille, nine countries - France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Poland and Portugal - signed the new Council of Europe Convention on the Co-Production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series.
The entry into force of this text, which is open to third countries, now requires only three ratifications, including at least two from a Council of Europe member state.
Adopted in November 2025 by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, this Convention constitutes the first international legal framework devoted to the independent co-production of series for television and streaming platforms.
Until now, such a framework - based on a 1992 Convention - only existed for the co-production of cinematographic works.
In his opening speech, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, recalled the 2026 Oscar for Best International Film won by Sentimental Value, by Danish-Norwegian director Joachim Trier, supported by this Convention on Cinematographic Co-production and the Eurimages fund.
He stressed the importance of an international framework of this kind to strengthen independent producers of European series, in order to bring “greater clarity and predictability” to “a market in the throes of transformation”, “dominated by non-European players, against a backdrop of economic models dictated by algorithms”.
The new Convention aims to encourage collaboration between independent European producers by streamlining administrative procedures, clarifying obligations and allowing equitable participation in property rights and revenues.
To be eligible, a series must be a drama, animation or documentary of several episodes for television or streaming and involve at least two independent producers from two different States that are signatories to the Convention and bound by a co-production contract.
This cross-border cooperation should also make it possible to incorporate a wide variety of languages, points of view and narrative traditions into the series offered internationally.
“Europe is strongest when policymakers, creators, public service media and industry move together”, concluded Alain Berset.
“And at a moment like this, the choice is not between cooperation and competitiveness. We need both”.
Link to the Convention: https://aeur.eu/f/ld7 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)