The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Luckas VANDER TAELEN (Greens/EFA, Belgium) on the Commission communication. (Please refer to the document dated 04/06/02.) Parliament felt that, in order to revive production, there needs to be some prospect of a system that provides better incentives and public funding for the private sector, and more tax concessions for television and film producers. Such a scheme will stimulate the growth of smaller businesses and encourage genuine competition. It expressed its disappointment that the Commission did not encourage Member States to introduce tax incentives to attract investment in film. A re-examination of the issue of State aid should lead to increased flexibility rather than a stricter application of the aid rules of EU competition law. Parliament went on the state the importance of reducing VAT rates applicable to audiovisual cultural products and services, in the review of the Sixth VAT Directive, by analogy with the reduced rates applied to other cultural sectors.
On the question of the review of the Television without Frontiers Directive, members hoped that general rules could be laid down on new audio-visual services, together with a method for regulating media ownership, which will provide a better guarantee of cultural pluralism.�