Luxembourg, 21/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Culture Ministers, who met on Thursday in Luxembourg under the chairmanship of Marita Ulvskog, focused their discussions on public aid to the film industry and expressed concern about the Commission's determination to "introduce greater clarity and to strengthen the legal security of aid systems". (See yesterday's EUROPE, p.7). The Council heard a report by Commissioner Viviane Reding, responsible for culture and audiovisual policy, on the first results of consultations that should lead to the publication of a communication in September. The Commission and the Fifteen expressed divergence over the question of knowing to what extent the States may decide the amount of public aid that should be granted to their industry. The Commission wants to include in its communication the principle of a ceiling to public aid, up to 50% of the production cost (a decision on the subsidy system for the French cinema N 3/98), accompanied by a certain amount of flexibility regarding the specific cultural features of each Member State. Ms Reding expressed her readiness to "consolidate the confidence of European film producers". Ms Ulvskog declared that "today's debate showed the concern and the scepticism of certain Member States that would have no cinema production at all if they could not help their national film industry". These States are mainly Belgium, Sweden, Finland and Portugal. Christophe Forax, spokesman for Viviane Reding, specified that "the Commission does not intend to ban support mechanisms and should continue its surveillance of the market on a case by case basis". According to sources close to the Council, "there are differences of opinion between Ms Reding and the services under Commissioner Mario Monti, responsible for competition, who is less attached to the principle of flexibility". The Belgian Culture Minister, who will be ensuring continuity of the dossier, declared that "it is an obligation for Belgium to show its ambitions in this field, as it must guarantee aid to the Belgian cinema industry".
The ministers also heard, without debate, a report by Ms Reding on a communication concerning public aid to television. The Commission is expected to present the report this autumn. The report echoes complaints made by the private sector, which, stresses Mr Forax, feels that the public channels receive more than their fair share of subsidies and that they behave as "predators" on the market. The future communication from Ms Reding should propose: 1) specifying the concept of "public service mission"; 2) creating an independent control authority to verify the implementation of public service missions; 3) establishing a test of proportionality to verify whether aid is "strictly necessary for the mission"; 4) preventing such aid from being an obstacle to the creation of new private channels.
Furthermore, the ministers adopted, without debate, conclusions on the protection of minors and of human dignity, on the basis of the Commission's report of 27 February 2001, which assesses a Council 1998 Recommendation on the establishment of national self-regulation measures in order to protect minors. They also:
adopted two resolutions on the exchange of information between the EU and candidate countries in the audiovisual sector, and the exchange of experience on the situation of artists in the context of an enlarged Union;
were briefed by the Commissioner on application of the Media Plus programme;
held an exchange of views on exports of cultural goods and the return of "stolen" cultural objects, stressing the importance of intensifying cooperation between the police and the customs authorities of Member Sates and pursuing work in this connection in the prospect of enlargement;
noted the designation by Sweden and Belgium of their respective candidates for being part of the jury for selection of the European Culture Capital. Camilla Lundberg, Director of the musical department of the Swedish television SVT, was designated by Sweden, whereas Belgium proposed Frédéric Flamand, choreographer and director of a dance company. The jury will be composed of seven members: two designated by the Council, two by the European Parliament, one by the Committee of the Regions and two by the Commission;
was informed by the Presidency on the state of progress of negotiations on the telecommunications package;
and discussed the implementation of the Cultured 2000 programme, during lunch.