Audiovisual policy: strengthening the European programme industry. Green Paper

In adopting the report by Mrs JUNKER (PSE, D), Parliament approved the Commission's willingness to create a competitive European programme industry with the aid of MEDIA II and the European Guarantee Fund. However, it deplored the lack of financial resources allocated by the Council for the development of a real European audiovisual policy. Parliament called in particular for the setting-up of a guarantee fund designed to promote European film-making (but without a veto). It also called on the Commission to introduce measures in favour of small independent producers and avant-garde productions (mainly by offering incentives to major producers who buy and distribute avant-garde works). Parliament also wanted the Commission and Member States to introduce fiscal measures designed to encourage private capital to invest in the European television and cinema industry and to improve the fiscal situation of the programme industry by reducing company tax to 10%. As regards radio broadcasting, Parliament pointed to the high quality of the European public channels and declared itself in favour of maintaining the global concept of public radio broadcasting and strengthening the competitiveness of this sector. It called for a policy on the media and programme industry which would see the new services as representatives of European cultural diversity, by allowing free, equal and non-discriminatory access. At the same time, Parliament called on the Commission to review the European directive on "TV without frontiers" and to dispel the legal uncertainties surrounding the quota system by imposing an obligatory scheme. In addition, the directive should promote the distribution of European works, prohibit pornography and programmes depicting violence and find legally binding ways of compensating for commercial breaks in films. As regards pluralism and the concentration of the media sector, Parliament supported the idea that bodies responsible for issuing licences in the radio broadcasting sector should cooperate at transfrontier level in order to limit the degree of concentration. For this purpose, a monitoring body with a mandate from the Member States should be set up to ensure the transparency of structures operating in the audiovisual sector. Finally, Parliament called for the countries of eastern Europe to be eligible for EC financial aid (particularly through programmes such as TACIS and PHARE). �