EC Communication On European Agenda For Culture Welcomed

The European Film Agency Director (EFADs), Cine-Regio and Capital Regions of Cinema have welcomed the European Commission’s Communication on a European agenda for culture in a globalised world.
The communication was hailed as an important first step towards the development of a coherent policy approach towards culture with the signing in Cannes of the first ever joint declaration by national and regional European funding bodies.
The European Film Agency Directors, Cine-Regio and Capital Regions of Cinema which collectively represent the national and regional funding bodies of Europe have welcomed in particular three of the themes set out in the recently published communication:

• The strengthening by the EC of its internal coordination in order to properly reflect the interface between cultural diversity and other Community policies;
• The support for evidence-based policy-making;
• The setting up of a ‘Cultural Forum’ to bring a cultural dimension to European public debates.

The importance of strengthened internal coordination is raised in the context of the review and possible revision of the 2001 Cinema Communication’s guidelines for the public funding of film production.
In addition, the European Commission’s (EC) approach in the Communication is being supported by the Council of Ministers which recognises culture’s role as a catalyst for growth, employment and competitiveness in the European Union (EU) and as a foundation for cultural and economic development.
The Council has also affirmed that local, regional and national contexts are key to cultural industries.
Recent trends in the EC’s interpretation of EU competition policy has raised concerns amongst European funding bodies. If the EC were to move towards the automatic introduction of ‘cultural tests’, the result could be the adoption of a more restrictive and reductive approach towards culture and film.
Although Europe’s film professionals and the national and regional film funds have consistently stated that territorialisation plays a vital role in maintaining the fragile equilibrium in both the film industry’s structure and its public and private financing, the EC appears to retain a concerned attitude towards ‘territorialisation clauses’ contained in film support schemes.
Territorialisation is defined by funding being granted to film production which is dependent on production expenditure in a country; conversely funding scheme without territorialisation is where the grant would be independent of where money is spent.
In keeping with the principles of the UNESCO Convention on the Promotion and Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005, the common declaration highlights two considerations to the EC:

• Any new Communication on Cinema should be no more restrictive than the 2001 Communication on Cinema. Commissioner Reding acknowledged in December 2006 before the Culture Committee of the European Parliament that the 2001 Communication on Cinema has succeeded in reconciling Community competition principles with the right and duty of each member state to implement cultural policies that help promote and develop European cultural diversity for film. The declaration signatories have previously confirmed their satisfaction with the 2001 Cinema Communication guidelines.
• European Union policies and legislation relating to the cultural and creative sectors, including film, should be consistent and help to strengthen Europe’s cultural richness. This would be in line with the Culture Communication which states that, “the right balance needs to be struck between different legitimate public policy objectives, including the promotion of cultural diversity”, and explicitly calls for “cultural considerations” to be taken into account when dealing with state aids in the audiovisual sector.

In the conclusion of the joint declaration, the directors of Europe’s national and regional film agencies, reaffirmed their responsibility for developing and implementing coherent national and regional cultural policies that are built on an appropriate application of the EU state aids regime.
(SP)