29/05/2009 - Video - Five EU Parliament members speak of priorities for cinema in next legislature

In light of the upcoming elections for the renewal of the European Parliament (June 4-7, 2009), Cineuropa interviewed five members of Parliament – Gérard Onesta, Ruth Hieronymi, Jacques Toubon Gyula Hegyi and Ignasi Guardans – who spoke of their parliamentary experiences and the priorities the European Parliament should adopt in the next legislative session as regards cinema and the audiovisual.

Gérard Onesta, French member of the European Parliament, member of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, Vice-President of the European Parliament, he is responsible for the Lux Prize.

Ruth Hieronymi, German Member of the European Parliament, member of the Group of the European People's Party, Media policy spokeswoman for the EPP-ED Group, chairwoman of the Audiovisual Policy Intergroup and spokeswoman for the MEDIA Programme 2007-2013 and of the MEDIA Mundus Programme.

Jacques Toubon, French member of the European Parliament (Group of the European People's Party), former Minister for Culture and the French-Speaking World between 1993 and 1995, Chairman of the Council of Europe's Eurimages Fund since 2002.

Gyula Hegyi, Hungarian Member of the European Parliament in the Socialist Group, journalist and cinema critic, he has been member of the Cultural Committee in the Parliament.

Ignasi Guardans, Catalan member of the European Parliament until May 2009 in the Liberal Group. He has been member of the Cultural Committee. In the audiovisual field, he has been working in the renewal of the Television Without Frontiers Directive. He is now Director of ICAA (Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute).