Europa Nostra co-signs call to boost future budget of EU Creative Europe programme
80 organisations from the cultural and creative sectors co-signed a letter calling on Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to boost the budget of the future Creative Europe programme of the European Union, which would cover the period 2021-2027. Europa Nostra supported the letter also on behalf of the European Heritage Alliance 3.3 as its coordinator, while 22 Alliance members also signed it directly. The letter – initiated by IMPALA, the independent music companies association – was sent to all MEPs ahead of the plenary vote on 14 November 2018 on the future EU budget, supporting a proposed budgetary increase for the Creative Europe programme.
Ahead of tomorrow’s vote, 80 organisations from across the cultural and creative sectors call on the @Europarl_EN to confirm the @EP_Budgets proposal to increase the Creative Europe budget to €2.8bn https://t.co/ZFQm58PReS pic.twitter.com/kNKCWr4bXn
— IMPALA (@IMPALAMusic) November 13, 2018
During the plenary session, the European Parliament voted on the interim report on the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027 – Parliament’s position in view of an agreement, which presents the priorities of the European Parliament for the future EU budget and includes explicit figures for the sector-specific programmes, including Creative Europe. As this programme is the only EU funding programme dedicated to cultural and creative sectors, it is of key importance for the sector. However, it is generally regarded as seriously underfinanced by many stakeholders and also decision-makers as a high demand for funding constantly leads to very low success rates.
In their letter, the signing organisations welcome the recent vote of the European Parliament’s budget committee on the draft interim report and its proposal to increase the budget of the future Creative Europe programme to EUR 2.8 billion instead of the EUR 1.85 initially foreseen by the European Commission. The signatories also refer to the budgetary increase proposed by MEP Silvia Costa in her draft report on the future Creative Europe programme and by MEP Giorgos Grammatikakis in his draft report on a New European Agenda for Culture.
Prior to the plenary vote, the budget committee had adopted the draft interim report with a large majority on 5 November, approving the call to increase the current funding for the Creative Europe programme to EUR 2.8 billion and demands for budget increases for other EU spending programmes that support heritage-related projects or initiatives, such as Erasmus+, the research and innovation programme Horizon Europe and cohesion policy. The report calls, for instance, to “triple the current budget for the Erasmus+ programme” to EUR 41.1 billion, which covers schools, vocational education and training, higher education and adult learning as well as youth and sport. It also demands to include “a specific allocation for sustainable tourism” (page 8).
Already ahead of the vote in committee on 5 November, 59 organisations had sent a similar letter to the committee members upon the initiative from IMPALA. It had also been co-signed by Europa Nostra, also on behalf of the European Heritage Alliance 3.3, and by 11 Alliance members directly.
Europa Nostra is pleased to be among the supporters of this joint call together with other members of our #EuropeanHeritageAlliance ! #StrongerTogether #Heritage4Europe #EuropeForCulture https://t.co/o75JgwY3Tj
— Europa Nostra (@europanostra) November 5, 2018
The interim report on the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 includes a breakdown of resources and EU revenue (see briefing). Once the resolution is adopted, the Parliament can start negotiations on the future EU budget with the Council.
Background
Europa Nostra has been actively involved in the discussions about the future EU Creative Europe programme. On 26 September, Europa Nostra’s Secretary General Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović participated in a stakeholders’ meeting organised by the European Parliament’s rapporteur Silvia Costa MEP so as to provide input and feedback for the draft report. The shadow rapporteurs from the other political groups and invited stakeholders from the cultural and creative sectors participated, including several members of the European Heritage Alliance 3.3, such as the European Historic Houses Association, Future for Religious Heritage, Architects’ Council of Europe, Eurocities and NEMO.
The European Commission published their proposal for the future Creative Europe programme on 30 May. Prior to this, Europa Nostra also contributed to a public consultation on the future EU funding for culture organised by the European Commission in March.
