Brussels, 23/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Union's Ministers of Culture managed to reach an agreement "without problem" on the budget for the aid programme to the European audiovisual industry, "Media Plus": 400 million euro over five years (2001-2005), 350 million of which for the development, distribution and promotion of European works, and 50 million for training. After their categorical refusal Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands rallied around the European Commission's proposal. "This is a great victory that we were not sure of securing at our last meeting", said French Minister of Culture, Catherine Tasca, who had made of this issue one of the French Presidency's greatest priorities.
The only aspect really to have been discussed was the distribution of the "development" aspect of the programme (financially, the most important aspect, on which the Fifteen had to decide unanimously). The distribution will absorb most of the programme with over 57.5% of the total. The small countries would have preferred that more money be given to the development of works (pre-production stage), the finally gets 20% of the budget. The remainder is shared between promotion (festivals, presence of European operators in major markets such ad Midem, etc.) to the size of 8.5%, the pilot projects for 5% (the newest one) and 9% for horizontal costs (notably to inform professionals).
The training aspect must still be the object of a second reading in the European Parliament (codecision procedure), foreseen in December, which could slightly delay its entry into force. The final adoption of the development aspect should, on the other hand, arise without debate during the next Council, which enables its entry into force in January 2001.
The European Commission Viviane Reding confirmed, furthermore, the coming undertaking by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the audiovisual sector: a specific action for the 2001-2003 period should be confirmed by the Administrative Council on 3 December and set into the melee. "We will intervene before and after the production, and the new EIB initiatives", which could among others support production, commented Mrs Reding, also underlining the complementary nature of these measures with the national system and national aid to film production.
This last sensitive question was the object of a Council resolution, aimed at reassuring the professionals as to the longevity of these aids. As occurs through the resolution on the price of books, it is a case of reaffirming "the specific treatment that the cultural and audiovisual issues must benefit from", commented Mrs Tasca.