European Parliament votes a resolution asking for 2% of EU's recovery plan to be allocated to creative sectors

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

 

The European Parliament has voted a resolution that calls on the Commission and European Union Member States "to earmark for the cultural and creative sectors and industries at least 2 % of the Recovery and Resilience Facility dedicated to the recovery."

  This is by far the clearest sign from European policy-makers that they are ready to support the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) sectors through a significant influx of funds. The EU recovery package, dubbed Next Generation, EU is of €750 billion, so 2% would equal to some €15 billion for the CCIs. The Parliament said this percentage "should reflect the importance of the cultural and creative sectors and industries to the EU’s GDP," considering that they account for 7.8 million jobs and 4% of GDP.

  The Parliament's resolution was initiated by MEP Laurence Farreng, on behalf of the Renew Group. "This is a strong signal sent to the European Commission and Member States to support the creative and cultural sectors and industries," said Farreng.

 

Revitalisation of Europe's cultural policy

  The Parliament noted that "the post-pandemic recovery and revitalisation of European cultural policy are strictly connected to the other challenges that the European Union and the world are facing, starting with the climate crisis." It considered that it was "fundamental to earmark for the cultural and creative sectors and industries a significant part of the economic recovery measures planned by the European institutions and to combine this with wide-ranging and swift actions in favour of Europe’s cultural and creative forces, enabling them to continue their work in the upcoming months and to survive these times of crisis, and creating resilience in the sector."

  The Parliament also called on the Member States and the Commission "to coordinate their action in their support for the cultural and creative sectors and industries." It also criticised the Commission for failing to allocate additional funding from the Next Generation EU fund to the Creative Europe budget, which has been set at €1.64 billion for 2021-27, and called for the overall budget of Creative EU to be increased to €2.8bn.

  The resolution also points out that recently-adopted legislation such as the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and the Satellite and Cable Directive, are instruments that should "be transposed as smoothly as possible" in national legislation as they would "promote European cultural content worldwide by encouraging European production and developing European broadcasting networks." These Directives would "both stimulate creation and protect individual creators."

 

Strenghen collective management mechanisms

  The resolution also called on the European Commission "to strengthen collective management mechanisms for the implementation of these directives and future policy."

  Such resolutions are not binding for the Commission but they indicate that should the Commission propose measures that went in the direction wished by the Parliament, they would be approved and voted.

  The vote of the resolution was welcomed by the CCIs. GESAC, the European Group of Societies of Authors and Composers, commended what it called an "important resolution" that "recognises the grave situation facing Europe’s creative and cultural ecosystem and lays out steps that need to be taken for a strong recovery."

  “This resolution is a huge step towards the cultural recovery of Europe," said GESAC’s General Manager Véronique Desbrosses. "It is now time for Member States and the Commission to listen to the EU institution that represents the voice of the European people, and follow the ambitious path laid out in this document."