The Committee on Culture and Education adopted the report by Silvia COSTA (S&D, IT) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on establishing the Creative Europe Programme.
The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted in first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows:
A Framework Programme consisting of two independent programmes: Members consider that the Creative Europe programme should be established as a Framework Programme, consisting of two independent programmes, ie. a Culture programme and a MEDIA programme, and one cross-sectoral strand, each programme having its own specific priorities objectives and evaluation criteria.
They state that it is essential to ensure that this framework takes account of the specific nature of the cultural and creative sectors, in particular the audiovisual sector, as well as their particular needs, through tailor-made approaches within two independent programmes.
Definitions and scope: technical provisions are included to the scope of the Framework programme:
- as regards the cultural and creative sectors, the programme shall include in particular: architecture, archives, libraries and museums, artistic crafts, tangible and intangible cultural heritage, design, festivals, music, literature, performing arts, publishing, radio and visual arts;
- as regards the audiovisual sector, the programme shall cover films, including documentaries, fiction films, children's and animated films, television, video games and multimedia.
Cultural and creative operators shall also cover SMEs as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which are active in the cultural and creative sectors
General objectives of the Framework Programme: Members amend some of the general objectives of the programme by insisting on the European added value of projects based on the promotion of dialogue and intercultural exchanges and on the European cultural diversity or on the innovative nature of the projects.
The Framework Programme shall set up a coherent support structure for the different cultural and creative sectors, consisting of a grants system complemented by a financial instrument.
Against this background, Members highlight the following general objectives:
- to safeguard, develop and promote European cultural and linguistic diversity and to safeguard and enhance Europe's cultural heritage, as well as to develop a sense of European identity among European citizens;
- to build up and strengthen the capacity of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors, with a view to promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, so as to help them to adapt to industrial and economic changes, as well as to support the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry.
Specific objectives: the following aspects are stressed in the report:
- to reinforce the capacity of the European cultural and creative sectors to operate transnationally and internationally and to meet new challenges, such as digitisation;
- to promote and enhance the transnational circulation of European cultural and creative works and the mobility of cultural and creative operators in the above-mentioned sectors, in particular artists (especially female and young ones), as well as to reach wider and new audiences and improve access to cultural and creative works in the Union and beyond, in particular for youth, members of minorities, disadvantaged groups and disabled persons;
- to strengthen the financial capacity of the cultural and creative sectors and of cultural and creative operators, in particular SMEs, and to ensure equality between women and men entrepreneurs;
- to support transnational policy and artistic cooperation in the cultural and creative sectors regarding policy development, innovation, creativity, audience development and new business models.
(1) Cross sectoral strand and guarantee facility: the Guarantee Facility shall be established as an experimental project and shall be complementary to the grants allocated through the Framework Programme. It shall enable the cultural and creative sectors at large to grow. It shall be opened to cultural and creative SMEs and shall be a self-standing debt instrument providing guarantees for projects in the cultural and creative sectors through leverage opportunities for financial intermediaries. The target for the volume of financial guarantees in the framework of the Guarantee Facility for 2020 shall be EUR 1 billion worth of loans.
Members also clarify provisions on: (i) the operating procedures of the mechanism (indirect access through the EIF); (ii) its scope (only SMEs and organisations working in the cultural sector may benefit); (iii) selection criteria; (iv) control mechanisms.
In the framework of this strand, Members propose to provide financing for the following:
- a feasibility study, to be carried out by 30 June 2014, exploring the possibility of collecting and analysing data in the cultural and creative sectors, other than the audiovisual sector;
- training for professionals of the cultural and creative sectors in order to enhance their skills in the cultural, media and digital fields;
- increasing collaboration between sectors which have hitherto had little or no experience of collaboration;
- the participation of the Union in the European Audiovisual Observatory;
- Creative Europe Desk network (countries participating in the Framework Programme shall establish Creative Europe Desks in accordance with their respective regulations, internal requirements and arrangements).
(2) Culture Programme: the Culture programme shall provide support for: (i) transnational cooperation projects; (ii) the promotion of digitial platforms; (iii) literary translations (such as pieces of fiction, novels, plays, poetry, comic strips, etc.) and translations of works related to arts; (iv) an improved structured network; (v) a better cooperation between operators.
It is stressed that the Culture programme should support in particular the non-profit-making projects.
(3) MEDIA Programme: overall, MEDIA shall facilitate the acquisition and improvement of new skills and competences by audiovisual professionals, including the integration of digital technologies. The programme shall support measures to support the activities of European audiovisual production companies, in particular of independent companies, with a view to facilitating European and international co-productions of audiovisual works.
Other measures aim to: (i) establish systems of support for the distribution of non-national European films through cinema distribution platforms and all other platforms, including video on demand and mobile platforms, and for international sales activities; (ii) promote the subtitling, surtitling, dubbing and audio-description of audiovisual works; (iii) promote fiction, children's and animated films, documentaries and short films.
Consistency and complementarity: particular attention has also been drawn to the consistency and the complementarity of the proposed programme with other relevant EU funding sources, such as the ESF, the EU Programme for Social Change and Innovation, the ERDF etc.
Performance results and dissemination: Members propose that both quantitative and qualitative indicators, specific to each programme are used for the monitoring of the Framework Programme. These indicators have been clarified.
Access to the Framework programme: the MEDIA Programme should be open to the same number of countries than the Culture Programme, by smoothing the participation conditions.
Logos and visibility: concerned about undermining the visibility of the programme and especially the MEDIA programme, the logo should be clearly identified. Members call on the Commission to ensure the visibility of the Framework Programme through the use of logos, which will be specific to each of the programmes respectively. The use of these logos (presented in the Annex to the proposal) shall be established in the Commission.
Annual work programme and delegated acts: Members consider that in order to ensure optimal monitoring and evaluation of the Framework Programme, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts. In order to amend and supplement certain non-essential elements of this Regulation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of:
- the adoption of the annual work programmes;
- the adaptation of the quantitative and qualitative indicators for the evaluation of the Framework Programme.
Cooperation: the Union shall, in liaison with the Member States, take the necessary steps to ensure proper cooperation in the culture and creative sectors with the third countries (former Media Mundus programme), multilateral and regional organisations and entities, including, but not limited to European financial institutions, international financial institutions, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, private foundations and non-Union donors.
Financial envelope: the report points out that the financial envelope specified in the legislative proposal constitutes only an indication to the legislative authority and cannot be fixed until agreement is reached on the proposal for a regulation laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020. It reiterates that sufficient additional resources are needed in the next MFF in order to enable the Union to fulfil its existing policy priorities and the new tasks provided for in the Treaty of Lisbon. Members point out that even with an increase in the level of resources for the next MFF of at least 5% compared to the 2013 level only a limited contribution can be made to the achievement of the Union’s agreed objectives and commitments and the principle of Union solidarity.
Members propose an indicative breakdown of the amounts (in percentages) allocated by type of action. The budgetary allocation between the MEDIA and Culture programmes and the Cross-sectoral Strand shall be as follows:
- at least 55% for the MEDIA programme;
- at least 30% for the Culture programme;
- a maximum of 15% for the Cross-sectoral Strand, with at least 4% being allocated for the transnational cooperation measures and for the Creative Europe Desk network.
Reports and evaluation: the Commission shall present a mid-term evaluation report to the European Parliament and the Council by 31 December 2017. The Member States shall submit to the Commission no later than 30 September 2017 a report on the implementation and impact of the Framework Programme within their territory. A final evaluation of the Framework Programme shall be submitted by the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions no later than 30 June 2022.