In June, for the first time, the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the European Parliament signed a joint declaration on culture: "Europe for Culture-Culture for Europe” (available here). The message and the political commitment were ambitious. It was also the first time the three institutions acknowledged the central role of culture in shaping and defining Europe's soul and mission.

The declaration treats culture as a foundation of European democracy and identity, and as a strategic resource for resilience, security and competitiveness. Its first principle is freedom of artistic expression. The three institutions commit to protect artists and cultural figures from censorship, intimidation and undue interference, and to shield the independence of cultural institutions. It also addresses fair remuneration and decent working conditions for artists, and sets out rules on artificial intelligence that protect human creators, intellectual property and the transparency of AI-generated content. The declaration further calls for "cultural mainstreaming", taking culture into account in other EU policies and funding tools from the earliest design phase.

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But the declaration is a political commitment, not a budgetary document. So what happens now? An open letter (available here) signed by more than 200 cultural organisations and promoted by the European Cultural Foundation is asking for consistency. For the fourth time in seven years, the sector is asking the Council to reject cuts to Creative Europe. The Council's position on the draft 2027 budget would reduce the programme by €31.6 million in commitments and €10.53 million in payments compared with the Commission's proposal. Every single strand would be hit: €7.8 million from Culture, €23.2 million from MEDIA and €0.6 million from the cross-sectoral segment.

The timing is tricky. 2027 is the final year for both the current Multiannual Financial Framework and the current Creative Europe programme, and negotiations over AgoraEU are still ongoing. The 2027 budget is the first opportunity for putting the declaration's commitments into practice. The associations which signed the letter are urging the Irish Presidency and the Member States to restore the Commission's proposal. They’re also backing the Parliament's CULT Committee, which is proposing an extra €15 million (€7 million for Culture, €5 million for MEDIA and €3 million for the cross-sectoral strand) to address chronic oversubscription.

In addition to the letter, a new petition launched this week (accessible here) raises the question of what happens to culture when funding alone is not enough. It calls for a Cultural Freedom Act for Europe and was initiated by Nela Riehl, German MEP and chair of the Parliament's CULT Committee.

The pattern of funding cuts and shrinking freedom of expression and creativity is visible across Europe. Far-right parties are growing everywhere, and attacks on and censorship of culture which doesn’t fit their nationalistic views are increasing sharply. When illiberal forces come to power, culture is often the starting point for silencing diverse voices, leaving it defenceless. Artists are driven towards self-censorship just to keep their doors open. Without legal protection, a single election can mute cultural diversity. The petition proposes following the example of the European Media Freedom Act, which created EU-wide rules for independent journalism.

The Cultural Freedom Act would be based on three measures: an independent funding guarantee, so that public money cannot be used as a political weapon; legal protection and defence for artists and independent venues; and a censorship early-warning system to monitor political interference and self-censorship.

The letter and the petition are asking the institutions for the same thing: consistency. Europe has described culture as essential to its security, identity and democracy. The coming budget negotiations will show whether action is aligned with intentions.