Tekst verordening 'Creative Europe Programme' vastgesteld (en)

July 17, 2013, Brussels. Today Committee of the Permanent Representatives (COREPER I) agreed on the compromise text of the Regulation establishing the Creative Europe Programme with a view to allowing the Presidency to finalize agreement with the European Parliament on this file.

The Chairman of COREPER I ambassador Arūnas Vinčiūnas underlined the importance of agreeing the file as soon as possible, so as to allow the Commission to proceed with its preparations for the implementation of the programme which is of the vital importance for the creative sectors across EU. He also thanked his Irish colleagues, who have done the most work on this file. The Lithuanian Council Presidency took over from the Irish and finalized the outstanding issues of the file, namely the co-financing rates and budgetary allocations.

The Programme “Creative Europe” brings under a single umbrella three currently self-standing programmes that have provided EU support to the cultural and audiovisual sectors: Culture, MEDIA and MEDIA MUNDUS i programmes. The main reason to join existing programmes was to create more opportunities for projects operators and facilitate the implementation of programme in the various contexts.

The existing EU support in the form on subsidies remains and at the same time new instruments for the SME’s operating in creative sectors to get loans are foreseen. In addition to grant funding, the proposal includes a financial instrument aimed at capacity building of the financial intermediaries to better understand the cultural and creative sectors. The Guarantee Facility (expected to be managed by the European Investment Fund) will provide guarantees to banks dealing with small and medium-sized entreprises operating in cultural and creative sectors, thus enabling those SMEs easier access to bank loans. Financial institutions as private banks or any other operating in the financial sector can be involved.

“Creative Europe” Programme is the direct instrument to promote cultural and audiovisual initiatives in the EU. Though it has impact on growth and job creation, but the main goal is to encourage creativity. It focuses on the Small and Medium Enterprises and enables companies in cultural and audiovisual sectors to develop and generate new ideas. The overall budget of the programme is EUR 1,462 billion