On Tuesday 12 May, the European Ministers for Culture and the Media adopted the Council of the European Union’s position on the AgoraEU programme for the period 2028-2034, without setting the budget (see EUROPE 13683/5).
“I take note of your broad support and conclude that the EU Council has reached a partial political agreement”, Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou, Cypriot Deputy Minister for Culture, expressed her satisfaction at the end of the ministerial debate, pointing out that budgetary issues are dealt with in other Council configurations.
The Member States have endorsed the European Commission’s initial proposal to structure the programme around the following three main areas: -Creative Europe – Culture will contribute to cross-border cultural creation and cooperation; - MEDIA+ will enhance the diversity and competitiveness of the audiovisual and videogames industries; as well as support free and independent journalism and news media; - CERV+ will promote fundamental rights and equality; prevent discrimination, enhance democratic participation, and uphold the rule of law.
The EU Council’s position stresses the importance of guaranteeing fair conditions of competition in the audiovisual field (new Article 5) and of taking account of specific national characteristics in the production and distribution of audiovisual works.
During the ministerial debate, Slovakia insisted on this point. Germany has predicted that the ‘media’ component will grow in importance. “We are at a crossroads, because we can see the dominance of American and Chinese platforms, which are crushing the pluralism of our media”, noted its representative. As for France, it would have liked AgoraEU to have more explicitly reinforced “European cultural sovereignty”.
The Member States also want to set up a committee, made up of national representatives, to discuss specific issues relating to the future programme. It also sets out the role of the AgoraEU offices in each Member State, which will promote the programme and provide technical support to project promoters.
Finally, the EU Council’s position describes human creativity as irreplaceable, stressing in particular the importance of responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI).
In its initial proposal, the Commission put forward a total budget of €8.6 billion for AgoraEU, broken down as follows: €1.8 billion for culture; €3.2 billion for the media; €3.6 billion for democratic rights and values.
See the position of the Council of the EU: https://aeur.eu/f/lvq (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)