Defending cultural diversity in Europe
A French Coalition for Cultural Diversity, uniting nearly fifty organisations representing all the arts present in France, has just launched an appeal for everybody to unite against a law prepared by the European Commission involving a liberalisation of all services. The French Coalition speaks for many other countries, such as Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and Spain, which all claimed to support the French position this week, demanding a revision of the whole text, and asserting, as the Coalition does, that cultural policies (cinema and audiovision) should be exempt from the new European regulation. For that matter, those who defend cultural diversity also requested a special treatment for activities managed collectively and a special status for cultural workers, artistic agents, and investors in the show-business. These decisions which would really encourage diversity depend on the European Council and Parliament, if the Commission does not withdraw the project altogether.
Amongst the members of the Coalition, we find the AFCAE (art house cinema theatres), the API (Independent Producers), the CICAE (International Federation of Art house cinema Theatres), the CSPEFF (trade union of French producers and exporters), the PROCIREP (cinema and TV producers society), the SACD (drama authors and composers), the SNEP (national union of sound editors), the SPFA (union of the animation film producers), the SPI (union of independent producers), the SRF (film directors society), and the UPF (union of film producers).
(Translated from French)
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