Brussels/Warsaw, 02/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - A gathering of film professionals from countries seeking EU integration launched a unanimous appeal to the EU calling on it to put forward a "Cinema Directive" that will allow European films to compete freely and fairly with third countries in complete diversity within the internal market. This appeal was made during the Congress of European Cinema and Enlargement organised by EURO-MEI (European Federation of Media and International Entertainment) and the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA) in collaboration with Polish filmmakers on 26-28 April in Warsaw. The Polish Minister for EU Integration, Danuta Hübner opened the debates for discussion in which Max Messner (European Investment Bank) participated, as well as a delegation from the European Parliament that included Vice President Catherine Lalumière, Ruth Hieronymi, President of the "Cinema, Audio-visual and Intellectual Property" group, Mercedes Echerer, member of the Cultural Committee, as well as a number of film-makers (Krzysztof Zanussi, Andrzej Wajda, Jacek Bromski etc.) from Poland, as well as from 20 other EU and candidate countries.
The Parliamentary delegation stressed the importance that the EP attached to "film as an expression of cultural diversity and basis for cohesion in European countries". Max Messner announced that the EIB had launched an investment programme for the European audio-visual industry that would be worth EUR 800 million. A FERA press statement indicated that these investments were "open to countries that were undergoing integration". The conference unanimously approved the Warsaw Declaration that called on the EU to put forward a Cinema Directive that would, "enable the constant growth of European and national cinema regardless of political and economic influences…that would contribute to sustaining cultural diversity".