The European Union was founded on economic grounds, not on cultural cooperation. It is therefore only very gradually that the EU has developed a policy in this area, based on the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue.
In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Union only intervenes if the objectives of its action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States. European action does not therefore replace action by the Member States, but complements it, in order to encourage cultural cooperation.
The objectives of europe for culture
- to promote creation in its diversity and contribute to the economic development of these sectors
- to strengthen the feeling of belonging to a European community, while respecting the diversity of national and regional traditions and cultures
- to facilitate European citizens’ access to culture as a factor of social integration;
- supporting non-commercial cultural exchanges;
- to exploit the employment potential of the cultural sector;
- promoting the cultural diversity of the countries of the Union;
- contribute to the influence of European culture in the world.
The challenges of digital technology and remuneration in the european cultural sector
For several years, European cultural policy has been undergoing reform, particularly in the light of the digital transition. Indeed, the European Union has the ambition to build a “digital single market”, which is to some extent hampered by the current functioning of the cultural sector.
A directive guaranteeing authors a fair remuneration within the European area was adopted on 15 April 2019. The European Union thus validates the principle of better remuneration for artists and press publishers from the traffic generated by their content on platforms such as Google or YouTube. Platforms will now be responsible for the content published by their users
With regard to the use of press articles by platforms, the creation of a neighbouring right to copyright for the media is endorsed. In this way, the media should be remunerated when their editorial production is re-used by news aggregators such as Google News or Facebook.
Another important measure adopted is to oblige on-demand platforms, such as Netflix, to offer their users at least 30% European works.
The european capital of culture award
According to the European Commission, the aim of this label is to “highlight the diversity of Europe’s cultural wealth and the links that unite us as Europeans”.
More prosaically, it is a question of promoting their heritage and cultural dynamism through the organisation of dozens of exhibitions, festivals and other events, while benefiting from significant media coverage thanks to the European label.
Four French cities have received this title : Paris in 1989, Avignon in 2000, Lille in 2004 and Marseille in 2013. In 2028, alongside a Czech city, another French city will be honoured again. Many municipalities or local authorities are in the running, such as Nice, Bourges, Saint-Denis or Clermont-Ferrand.
European fundings for Culture : Creative Europe programme
The Creative Europe programme has two main objectives :
→ To preserve, develop and promote cultural and linguistic heritage and diversity.
→ To increase the competitiveness and economic potential of the cultural and creative sectors, in particular the audiovisual sector.
The programme has a budget of €2.44 billion for the period 2021-2027.
The co-financing rates can be up to 80% depending on the size of the projects in order to guarantee accessibility to all players in the cultural sector
It has three strands.
The Culture strand
- Horizontal actions covering all cultural and creative sectors: support for cultural cooperation projects, networks of professional organisations, platforms for the promotion of European works and artists, and an individual mobility programme.
- Support in the music, books and publishing, cultural heritage and architecture sectors, as well as other sectors.
- Special actions to reward and promote excellence and creativity, such as prizes in the fields of literature, music, architecture and cultural heritage, the European Capitals of Culture, and the European Heritage Label.
The MEDIA strand
- Encourage cooperation both along the value chain and at EU level to develop European audiovisual companies and content on a global scale.
- Foster the development of talent from all over the world and widen participation and collaboration between countries.
- Support the use of new technologies to ensure the full exploitation of the digital transformation.
- Promote the sustainability of the sector and include societal objectives such as gender equality and diversity.
The cross-sectoral strand
- Transnational policy cooperation: promoting awareness of the programme and supporting the transferability of results.
- Creative innovation laboratories: to promote innovative approaches to the creation, dissemination and promotion of, and access to, content across the cultural and creative sectors.
- News media: supporting media literacy, quality journalism, media freedom and pluralism.