Creative Europe's budget is increased by 50% to €2.2 billion

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

 

The European Commission, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament have​ reached a preliminary political agreement on the future EU budget ​for the period ​2021-2027​ that will result in a significant rise in the European cultural programme Creative Europe.
 

  An initial proposal from the Commission had set the budget of Creative Europe at €1.64 billion, almost similar to the previous budget of €1.46bn for the 2014-2020 programme, but the final agreement sees the programme receiving a €2.2bn budget allocation, marking a significant 50% increase compared to the previous budget.

 

  The decision is part of a larger €16 billion package on the MFF (multiannual financial framework), and includes the financing of other European programmes such as Horizon Europe (+€4bn), InvestEu (+€1bn), Erasmus+, Eu4Health and the Rights and Values. The Creative Europe programme finances various creative initiatives such as the MEDIA initiative for cinema and TV and Music Moves Europe for the music sector.

 

A much-needed increase

 

  For European independent music companies' organisation IMPALA, the music sector "has a keen interest in a strong Creative Europe programme as a new sectorial action for music is being introduced from 2021. This is a great opportunity to build on the work done with Music Moves Europe and allow the sector to be better represented in Creative Europe."

 

  “This much-needed increase to the budgets of Creative Europe, InvestEU and Horizon Europe is very timely and underlines the importance of culture strategically," said IMPALA’s Executive Chair Helen Smith. "We also fully support the European Parliament's repeated calls for at least 2% of the €650bn Recovery and Resilience Facility to be earmarked for the cultural and creative sector.”

 

  Luis Chaby Vaz, the President of European Association of Film Agencies (EFAD), said the deal "will allow to substantially reinforce the Creative Europe budget for the next seven years. As we have been advocating for the last years, more resources are needed for the MEDIA programme to better support European co-productions, promote European works across the world, support independent cinemas, festivals, training initiatives and innovative projects."