26/09/2002 - Monti insists on "50:50" funding

Mario Monti, the European Commissioner for Competition will not allow Norway any exemption from the “50:50” rule according to which the European Commission places an upper public funding limit of 50 per cent of the budget on any film. Norway had made a request to Monti’s colleague, the Commissioner for Culture Viviane Reding, asking for exemption from this rule. She pronounced in their favour, “we do not want films that do not have the possibility of wide distribution to be harmed by this rule”.
Monti believes that the “50:50 rule” applies to all the European Community but his spokesperson, Amelia Torres did not exclude an eventual change of mind, especially after last February’s decision by , L’ESA (European Surveillance Authorities that are part of Efta (the European Free Trade Association – a European association for free trade that is made up of Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Luxembourg and has offices in Brussels and Luxembourg.) in favour of exemptions in “exceptional cases only.”
Norway currently fulfills fewer conditions than her Scandinavian neighbours, Sweden and Denmark but the European Commission has not given EEA (European Economic Area) total freedom of action. Furthermore, Norway has never implemented the “50:50 rule.”