20/12/2002

The economic expectations of the audiovisual industry of the candidate countries has been discussed during a workshop chaired by Michèle Cotta, president group AB, Key-Note Speaker: Walter Lerouge, Directeur EUREKA AUDIOVISUEL; Research: Joachim Ph. Wolf, Vicedirector MEDIA Salles.
The analysis of the economic situations of the audiovisual industries of the countries candidate to join the European Union was developed and discussed by the participants in this Workshop and gave rise to the following recommendations:

1. Given the frail and poor financial conditions of the production and distribution structures in these Countries, it is absolutely essential to protect and strengthen the support systems that exist in the European Union on the regional, national and European level; to extend its coverage and access to these new EU members; and create new and more efficient ones where there aren’t any. This goal could be pursued only through an enhancement of their current resources.
2. The other economic engine that must be strengthened and revived is the financial capacity of the public television services. In all candidate countries it constitutes a main partner in national audio-visual production that can play an essential role in the relationship with various national publics and, therefore, in final analysis, in satisfying the demand to create identity on each national market;
3. However, the sector’s regulation framework must be uniform and coherent (for cinema and television and for public and private companies), especially regarding the terms of their production obligations (that needn’t be identical but equivalent and proportioned) and contribution in supporting the national and European industry;
4. It will be necessary in time to establish complete and transparent circumstances for the audio-visual industry of each candidate country by the competent European and national organizations (the basic questionnaire used for this workshop can define the minimum level of the current situation in each country), to allow potential investors as well as national, European and international regulators (from venture capitals to banks, from the European Union to the national authorities) to make their decisions in full knowledge of the facts;
5. The specific situation of the audio-visual market of each candidate country must be taken into consideration both in terms of the most appropriated steps to the economic support of the national industry and of the political field as well as, lastly, the regulation and competition fields (tax shelter, antitrust laws)
6. The European model of the “mixed system” (public—private) in the organisation of the audio-visual sector must be adapted and modified according to the needs and risks tied to the particular situation and economic climate of each candidate country, using as a reference a serious and analytical balance sheet of the results and limits arising from this system over the last 20 years of experience matured in the European Union member countries;
7. It is a priority to encourage, with all possible means, the access of the audio-visual products and works of the patrimony of the candidate countries to the Union’s outlets using all distribution forms (cinema screens, TV, on-line, new media,...) and vice versa, in order to accelerate the integration of the audio-visual industries of the candidate countries within the Single Market, and counter these processes to the very determined penetration of the American industry on their national markets, ongoing for over ten years;
8. The best possible comprehension by the professionals and entrepreneurs of the entire enlarged Union of the different national economic regulation panoramas (objectives, resources, devices…) must be promoted and encouraged so as to facilitate their spirit of initiative across the European territory, as a first step towards the future harmonisation of regulations. In particular this goal could be pursued by the MEDIA desks network and by the existing training initiatives of the MEDIA programme;
9. Finally, a realistic view and solid principle of graduation must inspire the expectations and decisions of the candidate countries in relation to their technological investments linked to digital development (either terrestrial, satellite or in cinematographic applications, etc)