25/04/2012 - Government supports programme but opposes budget

The battle lines are being drawn for the future of the European audiovisual industry after the European Commission proposed Creative Europe, a new consolidated programme with a proposed budget of €1.8 billion over seven years featuring a new financing facility worth €200 million, designed to unlock lending from the private sector, was announced.

The UK’s Department of Culture, Media and Sports held a public consultation to gather views on Creative Europe from the British media industry. The consultation received more than 40 responses including from the British Film Institute (BFI) and the National Screen Agencies.

The BFI welcomed the Commission’s proposal for continued support for the audiovisual and cultural sectors, saying that they were pleased with the “proposed reasonable and much needed increase in the budget”, the “reinforced focus on job creation and economic growth”, the focus on cultural and linguistic diversity and competitiveness, film education, new business models and the support for transnational policy. However, the BFI was concerned that “audiovisual heritage, previously written into the general objectives of the MEDIA Programme, appears to have lost that status in the Creative Europe proposal and would like to see it reinstated.”

However, at a session at the House of Lords, the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Ed Vaizey, made it clear that whilst the UK government broadly supports the Creative Europe proposal, it opposes the increase in the budget and in particular the new financing facility. Lord Roper, Chairman of the House of Lords EU Committee, has asked the Government to review its approach and keep an open mind.