Brussels, 28/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the Portuguese Presidency presented its cultural and audiovisual priorities to the European Parliament's Committee on Culture (Chair: Giuseppe Gargani, EPP Italy). In the legislative field, Media Plus, the new programme for supporting the audiovisual industry for the period 2001-2005, and the directive on copyright in the information society will be the focus of Portuguese concerns. Lisbon also hopes to organise debates on the strategy to be adopted in the context of forthcoming negotiations at the World Trade Organisation, reform of the voting system in Council in the cultural field and safeguard of the European cinema heritage, which has over one million films. As Minister Manuel Maria Carrilho was suffering from flu, he was represented at the assembly by Mrs Vaz Pinto, Secretary of State for Culture.
Examination of the Media Plus programme will therefore be the main legislative activity of the term of office in the audiovisual field. Portugal hopes to make rapid progress on this to allow definitive adoption of the programme before the compulsory deadline of December 2000, under French Presidency. "This is a strategic sector in cultural and economic terms, on which the future of our national and European identities depends", states the Presidency.
It hopes to go further in the debate on the form to be taken by European cultural action and the role of culture in the European project, with the next round of international trade talks as a target. "Seattle was not a success but the debate will be on the agenda again sooner or later and we must prepare for it", commented the Presidency. Finally, the Intergovernmental Conference represents, Lisbon believes, "the unique opportunity for rethinking the Council voting system in the cultural field" (Article 151 of the EU Treaty). The European Parliament delegation had expressed its concern on this subject during conciliation with the Council on the Culture 2000 programme (adopted in co-decision by Parliament and Council but with the latter's unanimity, which restricts negotiation margins).
An informal meeting of culture ministers will be organised in Lisbon on 30 and 31 March this year. Mr Vaz Pinto also announced a series of conferences: - congress on the European cinema heritage from 10 to 12 March in Sintra; - international symposium on copyright and related rights in the digital environment, on 23 and 24 march in Evora; - international symposium on "National Libraries in the 21st Century - Information and Knowledge", on 6 and 7 April in Lisbon; - seminar on "Audiovisual Media: Training for a New Millennium", from 10 to 12 April in Porto; - conference on "Public Libraries Invent the Future", from 11 to 13 May in Lisbon; - and a European seminar on the "Dramatic Arts Funding Bodies", on 17 and 18 June in Lisbon.