Creative Europe

EDUC-V/020
Adopted

Creative Europe

 Adoption: 19/07/2012
 Theme: Education and Culture
support the proposed budget increase, focused on the contribution of cultural and creative sectors to the implementation of Europe 2020 Strategy; secure some key proposals of the European Commission (simplification and accessibility; better management; support to SMEs and the audiovisual industry; promote jobs and growth; promote Europe's cultural richness in the face of an increasingly globalised world; respect of cultural and linguistic diversity; transnational cooperation, including with third countries); highlight the role of LRAs in these domains and develop their involvement in devising and implementing the measures at EU level, including ECoC and EHL.
The CoR opinion was mentioned in the Recitals of the European Parliament (EP) draft report. The EP report shares the CoR's view that culture has an intrinsic value, which is separate from the economic aspects of cultural goods and services. It therefore underlines that the Programme should take account of this duality and ensure that the focus is not placed solely on economic competitiveness. The EP acknowledges the need for the Programme to serve the interests of social and territorial cohesion. The EP includes micro-enterprises in its definition of SMEs, thus considering them eligible for access to financing under the Guarantee Facility. The EP adds the Programme's relevance for territorial cohesion, as stated also in the CoR opinion.
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS  welcomes "Creative Europe", the new framework programme for the cultural and creative sectors under the 2014-2020 Multi-Annual Financial Framework , bringing together the current Culture, MEDIA and MEDIA Mundus programmes under a common framework and creating an entirely new Facility to improve access to finance;  strongly emphasises that culture has an intrinsic value that is independent of the economic aspects of cultural goods and services and the programme's design must take account of this dual nature by not focussing exclusively on economic usefulness of culture;  is pleased that during the 2014-2020 Multi-Annual Financial Framework, the Commission proposes a significant increase in the budget devoted to the cultural and creative sectors, a total of EUR 1.801 billion, a 37% increase on current spending levels;  believes that free and independent culture is of fundamental importance in the development of society. It safeguards diversity and freedom of opinion, provides opportunities for participation and provides arenas for critical and independent discussions, which are indispensible for a lively democracy.
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