Changes from plenary report to adopted text

8. Acknowledges that the programme contributes to the objective of climate and environmental sustainability through its actions; notes, however, that greening priorities have been introduced differently in the three programme strands; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of greening priorities and their impact on the sectors and to regularly report on its assessment; underlines the importance of developing training and awareness-raising activities with a view to promoting the adoption of more sustainable practices by the cultural and creative sectors;

9. Highlights the importance of supporting the cultural and creative actors in navigating the opportunities offered at EU level; welcomes, in this regard, the CulturEU initiative, a multilingual interactive guide mapping all funding opportunities available; stresses the crucial importance of maintaining regular and, where relevant, targeted exchanges with the cultural, creative and audiovisual sectors, as well as the news media, with the aim of achieving beneficial cooperation; reminds the Commission of the importance of ensuring appropriate stakeholder involvement in the preparation of future yearly work programmes; suggests that the Commission evaluates whether Creative Europe 2028-2034 could be better implemented through annual or biennial work programmes;

10. Calls for the strengthening of communication and exchanges between the Commission, the EACEA and the Creative Europe desks to ensure that the latter have access to all relevant information to enable quality support and guidance to applicants and beneficiaries; recalls also, in this regard, the importance of transparency in disseminating call results; calls on the Commission, therefore, to continue publishing the list of all grant recipients along with the amounts awarded in a timely manner;

11. Underlines the importance of identifying the programme and raising its visibility; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to report to Parliament on the implementation of the communication strategy of the programme, including the use of official logos;

12. Underlines the willingness of a significant number of beneficiaries to share their achievements and results with the cultural, creative and audiovisual sectors as well as European citizens; points out, in this regard, that the platform made available for this purpose is considered unsatisfactory, calls on the Commission, therefore, to involve beneficiaries in the development of a more suitable platform;

13. Notes that some Member States do not provide national indemnity schemes or insurance cover to facilitate the mobility of cultural goods; acknowledges that commercial insurance costs can be significant for numerous cultural actors; suggests, in this regard, that the Commission publishes a feasibility study on a pan-European guarantee scheme to cover indemnity costs as a first step to address this issue;

14. Urges the Commission to promote the human-centric and transparent use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the artistic and creative process by developing appropriate ethical standards relating to AI use; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to ensure that both applicants and beneficiaries provide information relating to the use of AI in projects, including in the production, distribution and promotion of creative works, in order to assess this emerging trend in the cultural and creative sectors and its impact on the programme;

15. Stresses the significant potential of the Creative Europe programme in developing and enhancing transnational partnerships, thus also contributing to the EU’s international relations through culture;

16. Calls on the Commission to invest appropriate resources on the external dimension of the programme and to encourage further cooperation between cultural institutes and organisations in Member States, as well as EU National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) Clusters in third countries; calls on the Commission, furthermore, to support and facilitate the participation of third countries in the programme, where possible;

Budget

17. Highlights that the current Creative Europe programme, despite the significantly increased budget for the period 2021-2027, is still oversubscribed; calls on the Commission and the Member States, in this regard, to substantially increase the financial allocation of the Creative Europe programme 2028-2034;

18. Recognises the urgent need in the two-year period 2021-2022 to frontload expenditure in order to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and those of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine; underlines, however, the detrimental impact that this measure will have in the second half of the financial cycle;

19. Urges the Member States and the Commission, given the challenges arising from digitalisation and greening, as well as from high subscription rates, rampant inflation and associated high energy costs, which are all severely affecting beneficiaries’ operational capacity, to ensure that there are no budget cuts to the programme’s allocation in the upcoming budget years;

20. Regrets that the Seal of Excellence label has not yet been implemented; calls on the Commission to roll out this label immediately, so that projects may avail of the opportunities offered by cumulative and alternative funding during this programming cycle;

21. Deplores the fact that under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework (MFF) there is no flexibility for topping up the Creative Europe programme and underlines that this precludes the funding of new initiatives, valuable pilot projects and preparatory actions; recalls, in this regard, that pilot projects and preparatory actions are important tools for testing new initiatives that may develop into standing EU funding programmes or be subsumed into existing ones;

22. Deplores the funding gap between the two MFF cycles, which particularly affected the network scheme and calls on the Commission to ensure that this does not recur in the future; calls on the Commission, in light of the key role of this scheme in supporting the cultural and creative sectors’ capacity to operate transnationally and internationally, to provide adequate funding and, in addition, to consider the introduction of operational grants for this action;

Culture strand

23. Welcomes the introduction of the sectoral approach as a new feature of the Culture strand, which complements horizontal actions; calls for its enhancement through an adequate budget allocation ensuring that no sector is left behind and there is no reduction to the allocation for horizontal actions;

24. Recalls the importance of further safeguarding and promoting freedom of artistic expression, in particular in the funding opportunities offered by the programme under the cultural cooperation projects action and the European networks scheme;

25. Recognises that the increased co-financing rates, especially for small-scale cooperation projects, are beneficial and facilitate the participation of small organisations; calls on the Commission and the EACEA, in this regard, to allow project consortia to independently determine how funding is distributed among their partners provided the overall co-funding rate applies at project level;

26. Underlines the importance of cross-border mobility for all creators, as it nurtures the creative process by enhancing professional opportunities abroad; welcomes, in this regard, Culture Moves Europe as a new mobility action under the Creative Europe programme;

27. Acknowledges the high quality of applications received under the mobility scheme; calls on the Commission, however, to promote Culture Moves Europe to a wider audience with the aid and support of all Creative Europe desks through communication and outreach activities; believes that these activities should specifically target individual sectors, including creators from all marginalised groups as well as less represented countries and regions, in order to ensure geographical balance;

28. Points out, while recognising the major success of the new mobility action, that it is imperative for an analysis of the main emerging trends to be carried out by the end of 2024 with a view to exploring the possibility of further expanding this action to include new actors, such as representatives from the book sector; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to increase the budget allocated to this action from 2025 onwards;

29. Emphasises the positive impact of the green and family top-ups implemented for the mobility scheme, which represent a concrete example of how the programme can be more inclusive; calls on the Commission, therefore, to consider implementing this approach in other actions of the Creative Europe programme;

30. Welcomes the increase in funding for the European Platforms for the promotion of emerging artists under the Culture strand and highlights the positive impact it has had on diversity by increasing the visibility of artists and their works on an international scale; calls on the Commission, therefore, to continue developing this action by ensuring adequate funding and promotion;

31. Underlines the importance of the network scheme in providing networking and capacity-building opportunities, which strengthen the diversity and competitiveness of the European cultural and creative sectors; calls on the Commission, in this regard, to provide adequate funding for this action with a view to supporting current beneficiaries and new networks;

32. Underlines that the sectoral approach is an excellent tool that strengthens the book and publishing sector, enabling concerted actions that support and stimulate market access and the wider circulation of European works;

33. Recalls that literary translation is the main support scheme for the book sector; stresses, however, the need to expand this scheme to include the translation of European non-fiction books; invites the Commission, in view of the mid-term review of the programme, to develop measurable goals on how funding is allocated in order to improve the accessibility of books for people with disabilities;

34. Welcomes the increase in actions providing support to the music sector under the Culture strand, resulting in a higher number of music-related projects being submitted under the current programme; calls on the Commission, however, to develop a more strategic and sector-oriented approach for the music sector with a view to addressing new and upcoming challenges, building on the results of the Music Moves Europe preparatory action; stresses in this regard the importance of a regular structured dialogue between the music ecosystem and the Commission; calls on the Commission, furthermore, to gather data in cooperation with the sector on Member States’ music markets and report on all emerging challenges affecting the entire ecosystem;

36. Acknowledges that the European Heritage Label is a valuable initiative promoting the significant role these sites play in the history and culture of Europe and notes that during the period from 2013 to 2021 60 sites have been granted the label; calls on the Commission, however, to improve the visibility of the European Heritage Label by developing synergies with other relevant EU financial instruments;

37. Underlines the importance of the prizes supported by the Creative Europe programme in literature, architecture and heritage, music (contemporary, rock and pop) and audiovisual arts; emphasises that these long-standing initiatives are well-known in these sectors and that they increase the visibility of the European cultural and creative sectors by rewarding achievements in different fields;

Media strand

38. Acknowledges that the Media strand remains the main European instrument providing strategic support to the independent audiovisual sector, which consists primarily of small and medium-sized companies; highlights the significant international competition that European audiovisual, cinema and videogame sectors are facing and the crucial support this strand offers for recovery and transformation of these sectors and for increasing the EU’s strategic autonomy; stresses, in this regard, the importance of ensuring a an adequate budget allocation for the Media strand and insists on the need for comprehensive data for assessing and monitoring whether and how the programme effectively succeeds in increasing the economic and cultural potential of these sectors;

39. Acknowledges the positive impact of the targeted measures introduced under the Media strand to broaden the participation of countries with different audiovisual capacities and to strengthen cross-border collaboration;

40. Highlights that a large number of high quality projects under the co-development and mini-slate schemes were rejected in 2021-2022 due to budgetary constraints; calls on the Commission, therefore, to allocate a larger budget for the future implementation of these schemes;

41. Underlines the vital roles of the European Film Distribution and European Film Sales support schemes in contributing to the cultural diversity of the European audiovisual sector by increasing the cross-border circulation of European films and offsetting some of the risks distributors take when investing in the production, distribution and promotion of non-national European films; stresses, therefore, that it is essential for funding for both schemes to be increased and for further efforts to be made to ensure the wider circulation and online availability of European works;

42. Underlines that in many European countries, there are no support schemes dedicated to the screening of cinematic works; highlights, in this regard, the importance of maintaining adequate funding for the Europa Cinemas network, a flagship initiative under the Media strand, which contributes to the circulation of European films in cinemas;

43. Stresses that the Creative Europe Regulation 2021-2027 extends the provision of support to networking activities for audiovisual professionals, including creators; points out that this action has not yet been implemented; calls on the Commission, therefore, to implement a specific action with the objective of supporting activities dedicated to networking and cooperation by European professional and cultural organisations within the audiovisual value chain in a timely manner;

44. Recalls the success of the Writing European preparatory action and suggests that Commission should include the objectives pursued by this action in the Creative Europe programme;

45. Welcomes the introduction of a dedicated action to support the development of video games and immersive content, which has generated considerable interest within the sector; calls on the Commission to support the cultural and creative dimension of this sector by taking into account its specific characteristics and related needs when designing the relevant calls for proposal, including the need to test new business models in the virtual world to enable skills development in this domain, with particular emphasis on the participation of women; notes, however, that the current budget might be insufficient for this and calls for additional funding to support the growth of the European videogame ecosystem and encourage the development and retention of European talent;

46. Highlights that rising inflation, in a highly competitive audiovisual market, has an impact on production costs; calls on the Commission, therefore, to adapt upwards the funding ceilings with the aim of ensuring that the Media strand delivers its support to the audiovisual industry;

47. Recognises the success of the Networks of European Festival call, which has supported 71 festivals in 12 networks, which cooperated to foster audience engagement, among other things; calls on the Commission, therefore, to continue funding the two complementary actions, the European Festivals and the Network of European Festivals, in alternate years;

48. Notes that, as the Media Invest facility attracted a large number of applications, greater budgetary synergies with the InvestEU programme must be ensured for its future implementation; calls on the Commission to further improve the promotion of this facility in the audiovisual sector;

49. Recalls that the Commission’s proposal for a European Media Freedom Act of September 2022 establishes a European Board for Media Services to replace the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) set up by Directive 2010/13/EU; stresses in light of the limited financial resources available for the implementation of the programme’s objectives that the budget allocated to the Media Strand and other programme budget lines must not be allocated for the financing of the Board;

Cross-sectoral strand

50. Regrets that the actions programmed under the Cross-sectoral strand have suffered the greatest delays in implementation, especially in 2021, due to the novelties introduced in the strand;

51. Notes that the Journalism Partnerships and the Media Literacy calls attracted the highest number of applications in 2021-2022, underlining the urgent need for an increase in financial support for the European media sector;

52. Notes that the low success rate of applications under the Cross-sectoral strand, in spite of the overall high quality of the submissions, indicates a high demand for financial support which regrettably cannot be addressed by the current financial allocation;

53. Calls on the Commission to ensure that in the remaining programming period no less than 9 % of the overall budget 2021-2027 is allocated to supporting the objectives of the Cross-sectoral strand;

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54. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the national Creative Europe programme desks.