Implementation of the current Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027
The European Parliament adopted by 489 votes to 87, with 40 abstentions, a resolution on the implementation of the Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027.
The resolution highlighted that the new generation of the Creative Europe programme continues to generate significant interest within the cultural, creative and audiovisual sectors, as well as the news media, with an increasing number of applications received under the three strands.
While welcoming the programme’s response in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Members reiterated their call on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen efforts to address the long-term effects of the pandemic on creators and cultural professionals. They regretted that not all Member States allocated at least 2 % of the Recovery and Resilience Facility to ensuring these sectors’ resilience, as requested by Parliament.
Parliament called for further efforts to simplify the administrative management procedures of the Creative Europe programme 2021-2027. It emphasised, as part of the programme’s aim to enhance diversity, inclusion and gender equality, the urgent need for improvements to the reporting system in order to ensure accessibility and ease of use for all beneficiaries, including people with disabilities. The Commission is also called on to closely monitor the implementation of greening priorities and their impact on the sectors and to regularly report on its assessment.
Members called for the strengthening of communication and exchanges between the Commission, the EACEA and the Creative Europe desks to ensure that the latter have access to all relevant information to enable quality support and guidance to applicants and beneficiaries.
Furthermore, the Commission is urged to promote the human-centric and transparent use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the artistic and creative process by developing appropriate ethical standards relating to AI use.
Budget
Highlighting that the current Creative Europe programme is still oversubscribed, Parliament called on the Commission and the Member States to substantially increase the financial allocation of the Creative Europe programme 2028-2034.
Members recognised the urgent need in the two-year period 2021-2022 to frontload expenditure to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and those of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It underlined, however, the detrimental impact that this measure will have in the second half of the financial cycle. Member States and the Commission are called on to ensure that there are no budget cuts to the programme’s allocation in the upcoming budget years.
The Commission is called on to roll out the Seal of Excellence label immediately, so that projects may avail of the opportunities offered by cumulative and alternative funding during this programming cycle.
Culture strand
Parliament welcomed the introduction of the sectoral approach as a new feature of the Culture strand, which complements horizontal actions. It called for its enhancement through an adequate budget allocation ensuring that no sector is left behind and there is no reduction to the allocation for horizontal actions. It recalled the importance of further safeguarding and promoting freedom of artistic expression, in particular in the funding opportunities offered by the programme under the cultural cooperation projects action and the European networks scheme.
While recognising the major success of the new mobility action, Members considered that it is imperative for an analysis of the main emerging trends to be carried out by the end of 2024 with a view to exploring the possibility of further expanding this action to include new actors, such as representatives from the book sector. The budget allocated to this action should be increased from 2025 onwards.
The Commission is invited to (i) promote ‘Culture Moves Europe’ as a new action in favour of the cross-border mobility of creators, to a wider audience; (ii) extend the system of support for literary translation to include the translation of European non-fiction books; (iii) define measurable objectives taking into account the way in which funding is provided to improve access to books for people with disabilities; (iv) introduce a more strategic and sectoral approach in the music sector; (v) provide additional funding for the special action ‘European Capital of Culture’; (vi) to improve the visibility of the European Heritage Label.
Media strand
The resolution underlined the vital roles of the European Film Distribution and European Film Sales support schemes in contributing to the cultural diversity of the European audiovisual sector. It stressed, therefore, that it is essential for funding for both schemes to be increased and for further efforts to be made to ensure the wider circulation and online availability of European works.
Members stressed the importance of maintaining adequate funding for the Europa Cinemas network, a flagship initiative under the Media strand, which contributes to the circulation of European films in cinemas.
The Commission is also invited to:
- support the cultural and creative dimension of the video game sector and immersive content by taking into account its specific characteristics and related needs when designing the relevant calls for proposal, including the need to test new business models in the virtual world to enable skills development in this domain, with particular emphasis on the participation of women;
- continue funding the two complementary actions, the European Festivals and the Network of European Festivals, in alternate years.
Cross-sectoral strand
Parliament regretted that the actions programmed under the Cross-sectoral strand have suffered the greatest delays in implementation, especially in 2021, due to the novelties introduced in the strand. It called on the Commission to ensure that in the remaining programming period no less than 9 % of the overall budget 2021-2027 is allocated to supporting the objectives of the Cross-sectoral strand.