Promoting the European cultural and creative sectors as sources of economic growth and jobs
The Committee on Culture and Education adopted the initiative report by Marie-Thérèse SANCHEZ-SCHMID (EPP, FR) on promoting the European cultural and creative sectors as sources of economic growth and jobs.
Members stress that for their continued development, there is a need for up-to-date and reliable statistics on the cultural and creative sectors (CCS), in particular as regards their actual situation, their specific features, including in terms of status, their potential in terms of creating jobs and growth. They ask the Commission to continue to develop studies and collect data on the economic and social role of the CCS.
The Commission is also called upon to:
- bring together, on the basis of the existing platform on the potential of the cultural and creative industries, an expanded forum of stakeholders in these sectors, to develop specific solutions and thereby assume an active role in establishing a structured medium- and long-term policy-based programme;
- create cross-sectoral linkages, producing agglomeration and cluster effects and providing new opportunities for investment and employment (e.g. in cultural tourism).
In particular, Members urge that action is taken to help give rise to a common European identity in the cultural field, as well as for harmonisation measures to be taken to this end at both regulatory and practical levels. They also call for measures to promote and recognise the visibility of the CCS, which make up Europe’s ‘cultural exception’.
Working conditions for professionals in the cultural and creative sectors: Members point out that professionals in the CCS must be guaranteed a social status so that they are able to enjoy satisfactory working conditions and appropriate measures with regard to tax systems, their right to work, social security rights and copyright, in order to improve their mobility across the EU. They call for consideration to be given to measures for the fair funding and remuneration of independent artists and to adapt social security schemes to the worlds of creative work (taking appropriate account of the fact that people in creative jobs often have to alternate between employed and self-employed status or do both types of work simultaneously).
Members call on the Commission and the Member States to enable CCS workers to access health insurance and (voluntary) unemployment insurance, as well as occupational and personal pension schemes for self-employed persons.
Education and training: Members stress the need for Member States to improve their training, learning and qualification systems, enabling students in cultural and arts disciplines to acquire a complete training qualification. They invite the Commission to recognise the specific nature of the master crafts, which are genuine sources of European jobs that are based on four criteria common to all the high-end CCS:
- innovation and creativity;
- xcellence and aestheticism;
- know-how and technology; and
- career-long learning and promotion of knowledge.
Members also consider it necessary to strengthen the links between the education system (including universities, while respecting their independence), research centres, training organisations and CCS companies (including SMEs).
The Commission is encouraged to:
- set up knowledge and sector skills alliances between higher education, vocational education and training organisations, on the one hand, and businesses in the field of CCS, on the other;
- make progress on mutual recognition of courses, vocational qualifications and diplomas in cultural and arts studies;
- consider, with the Council, setting up a European directory of expertise with a view to preserving and promoting European expertise.
Funding for the cultural and creative sectors: Members take the view that it is vital to enable and secure appropriate funding schemes, and to provide effective implementation instruments for the CCS, in particular for SMEs. They urge Member States to take into consideration appropriate support and funding for the CCS in their social and economic policies. They stress the need to support European funding of the CCS, including in times of economic crisis and call on Parliament to push for an ambitious and substantial culture budget, by maintaining pressure on the Council not to reduce the budget allocated by the Commission for the ‘Creative Europe’ programme.
Members also ask the Commission and the Council and the Member States to take the action required by recommending mixed methods of funding, such as public-private partnerships, by setting up loan-guarantee systems for small organisations and by looking into alternative means of financing such as crowd-funding and sponsorship.
As regards the audiovisual sector, Members call for specific support and for the clear and quantified transposition of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
They also recommend the putting in place of a favourable regulatory framework, and for further progress towards fiscal harmonisation for cultural products.
Members also make reference to the opportunities offered by European funds to strengthen the cultural sector: the Structural Funds, the MEDIA Programme or the Creative Europe programme’s guarantee mechanism.
Opportunities and challenges of digitisation, globalisation and access to international markets: Members believe that digital and online tools and platforms offer unprecedented opportunities for the CCS to develop new business models, attract new audiences and expand their markets both within the Union and in third countries. However, the existence of 28 different intellectual property rights management systems is a particular burden for Europe's CCS. As a result, the Commission is called upon, as regards respects for intellectual property rights (IPRs), to develop a regulatory framework which is adapted to the specific features of the various sectors, and to harmonise and reform the copyright framework in order to improve access to content and strengthen the position and choice of creators.
In parallel, Members stress the need to strive towards the mutual recognition of the status of artists, to look into how to provide opportunities for mobility and how best to make use of training programmes, networking and the free movement of CCS professionals, particularly cultural stakeholders, as well as artists and works.
At international level, Members call for the exclusion of cultural and audiovisual services, including those provided online, to be clearly stated in agreements between the Union and third countries, in particular in regard to the future EU-US free trade agreement. Members underline the importance of cultural diplomacy, as well as the need for the EU to act as a global player in order to enhance the global competitiveness of its CCS.
Local and regional development: Members stress the importance of regional cultural and creativity policies, and hence the central role of local, regional and macro-regional authorities in promoting and supporting the CCS. According to Members, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, it would be appropriate for local and regional authorities to include the CCS in their medium- and long-term economic strategies.
Highlighting the cross-sectoral nature of the cultural and creative industries as an attractive communications tool, Members stress they are often locally rooted and so should be supported by establishing local and regional platforms, networks, clusters, business incubators, and partnerships. Members advocate an approach based on territorial dynamics with a view to involving all stakeholders (artists, local authorities, representatives of professionals, etc) in cultural governance at local and regional level. In terms of jobs created, Members stress the important role played by the CCS, in particular SMEs, as a lever for growth and development at local, regional and crossborder (Member State) level (e.g. in the tourism sector).
Members also highlight the importance of educational schemes in the promotion of creativity from early childhood on and for fostering artistic and cultural education by promoting an interest in the work and products of the creative industry during primary and secondary education.
They also point to the fact that the cultural and creative industries contribute to the maintenance and improvement of Europe’s immense cultural, historical, and architectural heritage. They believe, in view of this added value, that the CCS should be strongly supported by the future EU budget and through national and regional programming documents drawn up for the period 2014-2020.
Lastly, Members call on the Member States to adopt adequate social and fiscal measures to support the creative economy and to support new business models for cultural and creative industries adapted to the European market, which would enable the mobility of artists and people working in the cultural and creative industries, as well helping them overcome obstacles related to different tax or social systems and language barriers, and to promote better understanding among countries and cultures.