The Socialists and Democrats pushed today in the plenary in Brussels in favour of increasing the budget for the Creative Europe framework programme in order to meet the ambitions set. They also underlined the importance of easing access to funding for small scale organisations and projects.

In addition, S&D Euro MPs asked for the creation of three new sub-programmes on innovation crossovers, social inclusion and for the Creative Europe Mundus to include third countries.

The report which takes stock of the implementation of the existing programmes highlights the need for better management, transparency and simplified procedures.

S&D MEP and author of the report Silvia Costa said:

“Today we asked the European Commission to provide a strong integration of funds in line with the ambitions of the Creative Europe programme (CE). Up until now, with the available resources, it has not been possible to accept many quality projects. We believe, however, that the integration of funds is indispensable. It could enable the European Union to not only value its cultural and linguistic diversity, but also strengthen the culture and creativity sectors, which are currently supporting growth. Indeed, culture creates millions of jobs, two and a half times more than the automotive industry.”
                                                                                                       
Background information on the CE programme:

•    The CE brings together the cultural and media programmes that were developed during the 2007-2013 programming period;
•    It operates since 2014;
•    It aims at helping the creative and cultural industries and audiovisual sectors to face the challenges of increasing digitalisation, market fragmentation, global competition and difficult access to financing;
•    Under the programme, mobility and cooperation between artists and professionals in the cultural industry, as well as the movement of works and the creation of cultural associations and creative enterprises in the audiovisual sector are enabled.
•    The results of the mid-term evaluation of the programme will be presented by the end of 2017 by the Commission.

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