Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Change 19

Changed The individual mobility scheme (for individuals and groups of up to five persons). Following five monthly evaluations, 4,6654 665 applications were submitted representing a total of 7,6897 689 individuals. Grants of EUR 3.6 million were awarded to 1,8021 802 artists and cultural professionals.

Change 20

Changed The residency action, which is aimed at organisations and established individual artists who regularly organise residencies and are interested in hosting artists and cultural professionalsprofessionals. (TheThe deadline for the first call’scall deadlineof this action was in June 2023).2023.

v. Implementation of the Media strand in 2021-2022

Change 21

ChangedThe calls published under the Media strand attracted 2,1242 124 applicants in total, 929 in 2021 and 11951 195 in 2022. Among these applicants, 63% were successful in securing funding in 2021 and 69% in 2022. The large number of applicants in the first two years demonstrates the strong interest of the European audiovisual sector in the programme. Despite the decrease in the success rate in 2021, the Media strand continues to play a key role in fostering growth and resilience offor the sector. The Media actions that financed the highest number of grants in 2021 and 2022 are: Film Distribution (482 grants), Development Slate (166 grants), Co-development (117 grants) and European Festivals (92 grants).

vi. Implementation of the Cross-sectoral strand in 2021-2022

Change 22

ChangedThe calls published under the Cross-sectoral strand attracted around 243 applicants, requesting fundinga total amount of EUR 210 million. The first call for Media Literacy was launched in 2022, resulting in six grants being awarded and one being denied due to an insufficient budget. Also under this strand, two grants were awarded under the call for Defending Media Freedom and Pluralism. The Journalism partnerships’ calls have seen a considerable increase in the number of projects being submitted, ranging from 30 in 2021 to 54 in 2022. The success rate of most calls under this strand were, however, quite low with only 23% of applicants receiving a grant in 2021 and 24% recipients in 2022.

vii. Delivering of the programme

Change 23

ChangedIn 2021 and 2022, the programme supported a total 1,9091 909 projects (1,422(1 422 under Media, 441 under Culture and 46 Cross-sectoral). In both years, the programme provided grants to around 3,8603 860 organisations (2,146(2 146 under Culture, 1,4521 452 under Media and 262 under Cross-sectoral);Cross-sectoral). dataThe providedavailable data reveals that 73% of the beneficiaries under Culture were small-sized organisations. Despite the positive data, stakeholders underlined challenges relating to the uptake and participation of smaller organisations in the programme.

5. Programme contribution to key EU challenges and priorities

Change 24

ChangedThe main EU challenges also relevant forto the cultural, creative and audiovisual sectors are digital transformation, green transition, the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical instability caused by the Russian aggression against UkraineUkraine, and the EU strategic autonomy.

Change 25

ChangedThe Creative Europe programme addresses all the afore-mentioned challenges, albeit differently. The Regulation hasmakes a strong reference to the digital transformation and the post-pandemic recoveryrecovery, whilst the green transition and the EU strategic autonomy are tackled to a much lesser extent.

Change 26

ChangedThe Regulation does not refer to the Russian aggression as the Regulation was already in force when Russia launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine in February 2022; this also applies to the work programmes of 2021 and 2022. Nevertheless, the programme has shown a great level of flexibility and resilience in responding to urgent needs arising from both the pandemic and the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The effects of the Russo-UkrainianRussian warinvasion wereof Ukraine are included as one of the programme’s key challenges to the work programme 2023. A targeted call of EUR 5 million to support the Ukrainian artists and cultural sectors was launched in November 2022, under the Culture strand. The three projects selected, involving 16 European and Ukrainian organisations, offer flexible funding mechanisms and capacity building in three areas: support to artists and cultural organisations, integration of displaced Ukrainian artists through the arts, and the reconstruction of cultural heritage.

▸4 unchanged paragraphs

The post-pandemic recovery challenges were primarily addressed in the 2021-2022 calls under the Culture strand where the effects of the pandemic were still strong. Lastly, the challenge of the EU strategic autonomy is mentioned in the Cross-sectoral strand only by referring to the relevant role of journalists and media in democracy.

6. Conclusion

The analysis carried out for this report is based on limited data covering the two years of the programme’s implementation. Moreover, when this report was drafted, data resulting from the qualitative and quantitative indicators, established by the new Regulation, were not yet available. It is, therefore, only possible to draw a preliminary assessment of the programme and not a thorough evaluation of its performance for the whole 2021-2027 programme period.

The first two years of implementation have been greatly impacted by many unexpected external factors that consistently affected programme development. The COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, followed by the war of aggression against Ukraine and its repercussions such as high inflation, have disrupted the entire cultural ecosystem throughout 2021 and 2022. Furthermore, the implementation of the programme in 2021 was delayed due to the late adoption of its legal basis. Despite this scenario, the early implementation of the programme has been quite effective overall.

Change 27

ChangedThe Rapporteur welcomes the reactivity of the programme to unforeseen challenges and its ability to adjust when required. In this regard, the budget increase and higher co-financing rates have been positively received by the stakeholders, as has the extension of deadlines for many calls and related flexibilityflexibilities showedshown by both the Commission and EACEA to beneficiaries. The Rapporteur, however, regrets that the substantial budget increase will be partially absorbed by high inflation, which may require further adjustments in the remaining years of this MFF cycle. The newly adopted simplification measures appear to have had positive effects so far and they should be further developed.

Change 28

ChangedThe Rapporteur believes that is keyessential to have early and reliable timetabling of calls for proposals in the near future, thus allowing candidates to have more time to plan in advance. Furthermore, improvements to the IT tools deployed for the Creative Europe programme must be implemented; in particular, the IT tools must suit the diverse types of organisations applying to the programme.

Change 29

ChangedLastly, the Rapporteur considers the mainstreaming of the cross-cutting priorities across the three strands as a positive development. Considering, however,Considering the relatively recent start of the programme, along with the complexity entailed in assessing the societal impact of projects, the Rapporteur recommendsrecommends, however, a more in-depth monitoring and assessment of this new feature. This will provide a better understanding of how the programme functions in relation to this specific aspect.