21/03/2003

In a declaration that was sent to the Austrian Secretary of State for Culture, Franz Morak, on Thursday 20 March 2003, Gerhard Schedl, the director of the Austrian Film Institute, criticised the procedure with which the European Commission (EC) approves state aid to the film industry, calling it “counter-productive”. This declaration follows a joint statement made by the European Film Agency Directors criticising the EU’s control mechanisms over member-state policies towards their respective film industries.
The main bone of contention was the so-called “50% rule”, that sets an upper financial support limit of 50 per cent of a given film’s budget, and is applied to all member states to avoid unfair competition. Only in exceptional circumstances are member states allowed to grant higher levels of aid: usually to low-budget films or niche titles that would otherwise struggle to drum up the necessary funding. The Austrian Film Institute pointed out that the provisions currently in place fail to take into consideration the cultural mission of the film industry and the fact that films should not be considered as merely commercial products. At the present time none of the EU member states’ film industries is strong enough to stand up alone and create the conditions for a healthy and diverse market, so the importance of joining forces and working together towards this end cannot be overemphasised. It follows that state funding is fundamentally important to the livelihood of the European film industry and must be maintained and protected by the Commission downwards.