Letter

Saatja: Gabriele Rosana <[email protected]> Saadetud: 04.09.2023 18:55 Adressaat: Lars Ebert <[email protected]> Teema: Creative Europe 2024 Budget Cuts, Letter of Concern signed by 70 Cultural Networks Manused: Letter of Concern - Creative Europe 2024 Budget Cuts.pdf Dear Ministers for Finance and Ministers for Culture of the EU Member States, We are writing as a group of 70 networks and organisations from across the Culture and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) because we are deeply concerned by the proposed budget cuts of €40 million to the Creative Europe work programme 2024. Culture is what brings us together. The Culture and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) are vital for people’s well-being in Europe. CCSIs contribute to democratic development, togetherness and social cohesion, as they are essential for vibrant and thriving societies. A cut of €40 million in Creative Europe will have barely any impact on the EU’s budget savings, but will significantly weaken the Creative Europe programme and cause damage to the CCSIs. We very much hope that you will reconsider the current budget cuts and call on you to strengthen the Creative Europe programme for the year 2024 and in the future, in line with the position expressed by the CULT Committee of the European Parliament, which requests an increase by €43 million for next year. Please find attached a letter of concern co-signed by 70 European cultural networks and organisations. We remain available if you need more information. With kind regards, Culture Action Europe on behalf of the wider group --- (>e Best Regards, Gabriele Rosana Policy Director Culture Action Europe is the major European network of cultural networks, organisations, artists, activists, academics and policymakers. Visit us: 13 Rue Baron Horta 1000 Brussels Postal address: 23 rue Ravenstein 1000 Brussels T. +32 2 534 4002 cultureactioneurope.org Facebook >< Twitter >< Instagram >< LinkedIn To: Charles Michel, President of the European Council Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain, President-in-exercise of the Council of the EU Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission National Ministers of Finance National Ministers of Culture Brussels, 1 September 2023 Letter of concern regarding the 2024 Creative Europe budget cuts Dear Presidents, Dear Prime Minister, Dear Ministers, We are writing as a group of 70 networks and organisations from across the Culture and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) because we are deeply concerned by the proposed budget cuts of €40 million to the Creative Europe work programme 2024. The Culture and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSIs) are vital for people’s well-being in Europe. Culture is what brings us together. CCSIs contribute to democratic development, togetherness and social cohesion, as they are essential for vibrant and thriving societies. The CCSIs are important drivers of the European economy, with a turnover of €643 billion and a total added value of €253 billion. In 2019, the core activities of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) represented 4.4% of EU GDP in terms of total turnover1. For 2022, Eurostat estimates there are 7.7 million cultural workers in the EU with a yearly growth of 4.5% and the smallest gender employment gap ever, with 3.9 million men and 3.8 million women working in the sector2. As you will recall, cultural and creative sectors and industries have been identified among the ones most affected by the pandemic restrictions. And yet, while the health emergency is nearly over, these sectors are still in the midst of recovering from the pandemic. CCSIs are in need of continuous and reliable support to overcome the aftermath of COVID-19 as well as the ongoing cost of living crisis which has been heightened by the economic consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and skyrocketing energy prices. The importance of culture has been widely recognised across the political spectrum and across the world - now is not the time, however, to let the cultural sector down. We encourage you to remember that artists, creators, cultural workers, and the whole cultural 1 Rebuilding Europe: The cultural and creative economy before and after the COVID-19 crisis​. 2 Eurostat, Culture Statistics - Cultural Employment ecosystem are important social and economic players and that it is crucial to equip them with the necessary financial means. The Creative Europe programme makes up only 0,198% of the overall MFF - and despite its very small amount compared to the overall budget, it has an enormous impact and expands the projects and programmes that it funds. While being among the smallest financial envelopes of the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), Creative Europe is the only EU programme specifically dedicated to transnational cultural cooperation, and an inestimable opportunity for cultural operators to act beyond borders and to make Europe’s culture thrive. A cut of €40 million in Creative Europe will have barely any impact on the EU’s budget savings, but will significantly weaken the Creative Europe programme and cause damage to the CCSIs. We would like to remind you that the Creative Europe budget was frontloaded as a reaction to the needs of the CCSIs coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nature of the front-loaded budget is that the annual budgets would start to decrease already as of 2024. Against this backdrop, imposing further cuts to an already decreasing budget will severely jeopardise the recovery efforts undertaken in the past years up until now. We therefore strongly support the recent vote of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) to increase the Creative Europe budget 2024 by €43 million and request that you align to this position to increase the budget of the programme instead of reducing it. In this light we would also like to draw your attention to the letter written by the Cultural Creators Friendship Group (CCFG) of the European Parliament which we fully endorse. We very much hope that you will reconsider the current budget cut and call on you to strengthen the Creative Europe programme for the year 2024 and in the future. In light of multiple challenges it faces, Europe needs strong funding for culture, and a programme such as Creative Europe, which has shown how vital it is for European creativity, diversity and togetherness. With kind regards, 1. Culture Action Europe (CAE) 2. European Music Council (EMC) 3. AEPO-ARTIS 4. Aktionstheater PAN.OPTIKUM gGMBH 5. Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) 6. Artists' Association of Finland 7. Association des Centres culturels de rencontre (ACCR) 8. Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC) 9. Association of European Radios (AER) 10. Autor - danish composers and songwriters 11. BJCEM 12. BOZAR 13. CEATL (Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires) 14. Centre Européen de Musique (CEM) 15. CEPI - European Audiovisual Production Association 16. CEPIC 17. CineRegio AISBL (European Association of Regional Film & AV Funds) 18. Circostrada 19. DE CONCERT ! 20. EDN - European Dancehouse Network 21. EFFORTS Europe 22. ELIA - Globally connected European network of art universities 23. ENCC - European Network of Cultural Centres 24. EUNIC - European Union National Institutes for Culture 25. Eurocinema - Association de producteurs de cinéma et de télévision 26. Europa Cinémas 27. Europa Distribution 28. Europavox 29. European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) 30. European Arenas Association 31. European Choral Association (ECA) 32. European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity 33. European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) 34. European Cultural Foundation 35. European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) 36. European Federation of National Youth Orchestras (EFNYO) 37. European Festivals Association (EFA) 38. European Magazine Media Association (EMMA) 39. European Music School Union 40. European Network on cultural management and policy (ENCATC) 41. European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) 42. European Orchestra Federation EOFed 43. European Theatre Convention 44. European Union of Music Competitions for Youth 45. European Writers' Council (EWC) 46. Europeana Foundation 47. Eurozine 48. FEDEC - international network for professional circus education 49. Federation of European Publishers (FEP) 50. Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA) 51. Federation of Screenwriters in Europe 52. IAA Europe 53. IAO (International Artist Organisation) 54. ICMP - The International Confederation of Music Publishers 55. IETM - International network for contemporary performing arts 56. IFRRO 57. IMPALA - Independent Music Companies Association 58. International Music Council 59. International Union of Cinemas 60. Jeunesses Musicales International 61. Live DMA 62. Liveurope, the live music platform for new European talent 63. Michael Culture Association (MCA) 64. Network of European Museum Organisations (NEMO) 65. On the Move 66. Opera Europa 67. Polish Music Council 68. Tenso Network Europe 69. Trans Europe Halles 70. YOUROPE - The European Festival Association