Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added44. 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;

Added45. 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;

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Added47. 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;

Added48. 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;

Added49. 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;

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Changed25.51. 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;

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Changed26.52. 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 envelope;allocation;

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Added53. 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.