Strasbourg, 25/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Parliament approved, without amendment, the second reading of the recommendation by Ruth Hieronymi (EPP-ED, Germany) on the Council's joint position on the implementation of the MEDIA 2007 programme. Parliament felt the joint position was measured, even thought the budget allocated for 2007-2013 - €671 million - failed to reflect the level of ambition and the objectives set in the European Commission's proposal (the Commission asked for €1.055 billion). Parliament was pleased that it had managed to highlight the importance of European cinema for inter-cultural dialogue, linguistic and cultural diversity, and the principles of human dignity, equality and non-discrimination. In relation to the Commission's initial proposal, greater emphasis was placed on the institutions which specialise in funding loans for the audio-visual sector, and on the key issue of access to funding. Finally, Parliament included European cinema days and a prize for young talent, which would bring greater awareness of the scheme, in the programme. The funding of the new programme would not, unfortunately, allow the European cinema industry to realise its ambitions on the world market, but simply to maintain the status quo and to concentrate on its two main priorities: digitisation and enhanced cooperation at all levels, said Ms Hieronymi. During the debate which preceded the debate, MEPs congratulated their colleague on her work, with several, like her, criticising the lack of funding for the programme. It was “important for cultural diversity to promote our cultures” and to “stand up to the domination of Hollywood by supporting the (European) audio-visual sector,” stressed Seán O Neachtain (UEN, Ireland) and Helga Trüpel (Greens, Germany). Given that European citizens have access to only 26% of European production, Tadeusz Zwiefka (EPP-ED, Poland) wondered if there really was any choice for TV viewers. “We welcome the opening of the sector, but there has to be greater competition and commercialisation,” he added. Pointing out that Europe's cultural richness and diversity were a double-edged sword in that local characteristics could lead to fragmentation of national markets and poor circulation, Greek Socialist MEP Nikolaos Sifunakis stressed the importance of MEDIA 2007 in improving cross-border circulation. Finally Georgios Karatzaferis (IND/DEM, Greece) supported the idea of giving priority to the funding of work which allowed Europeans to get to know one another, in order to counter a certain culture of violence promoted in non-European work. (il)