Silvia Costa has been looking back on her two mandates at the European Parliament. She did so at the Cannes Film Festival, where Cineuropa got the chance to meet her.

Cineuropa: After two mandates at the European Parliament, what are the things you would say you are most proud of in terms of cultural policy?
Silvia Costa: I am proud that I contributed to initiating a new cultural policy over these two years, starting with the recognition of our shared cultural heritage as a resource for Europe’s inclusion and competitiveness on the world stage. We have a dedicated European plan of action, and a robust strategy for cultural, creative and audiovisual endeavours. We’ve worked in tandem with the European Commission to create the first real strategy for European cultural diplomacy. Lastly, the Parliament has recommended the doubling of funds for the Creative Europe - MEDIA programme, which I was the rapporteur for. It’s now up to the member states and the Council to drive forward this ambitious policy that the Parliament is in favour of.

Recently, the European Parliament approved the copyright directive. What is your take on it? 
The new copyright directives were drawn up to guarantee a more appropriate relationship between content creators, publishers and the big digital aggregators. The digital ecosystem has to respect rights and obligations, stand up for the people and protect data, as well as ensuring fair remuneration for creative and artistic work. I think that with the copyright directive, we have imposed some strict rules on the big platforms, ranging from fiscal measures, with the web tax, to the quality of online services. But it is still necessary to focus more on education in order to explain the advantages of this new legislative direction to all of the industry’s players.

Just a few days ahead of the elections, what is your view of the political landscape in Europe?
We are witnessing an electoral campaign that has seen the formation of two huge groups: those who recognise the extraordinary value of a united Europe, and those who want to destroy or weaken it, even by means of underhand coalitions with foreign powers. There are also those who want to defend it from a more demanding and coherent standpoint, because they want the Union to be more supportive, with more democratic, participative institutions. They even want the Parliament to be a co-legislator and for there to be a proper assessment of the EU in order to save it from blackmail and government cuts.

How would you like Europe’s cultural policy to develop in the next parliamentary term?
I think that, above all, we must wage the battle on the cultural level if we want to ensure a future for the European Union’s political strategy.