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DRAFT REPORT (2023/2003(INI))

On the implementation of the Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027

CULT-PR-750020

Committee on Culture and Education · Rapporteur: Massimiliano Smeriglio

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This draft report by the Committee on Culture and Education assesses how the Creative Europe programme 2021-2027 was implemented in 2021 and 2022. It describes the programme's three strands, its budget increase and its new priorities, and sets out what Parliament should ask the Commission and member states to do. The accompanying resolution welcomes the programme's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the interest from the cultural, creative and audiovisual sectors, but says administrative procedures remain burdensome and the programme is oversubscribed. It calls for a substantially larger budget for 2028-2034, no budget cuts in the coming years, more funding for the Culture, Media and Cross-sectoral strands, and better promotion of the mobility scheme. It asks the Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency to simplify procedures, improve reporting and IT tools, involve beneficiaries in a new results platform, and schedule capacity-building exchanges.

Committee position. The rapporteur finds the early implementation of the programme effective overall, welcomes its reactivity to unforeseen challenges and the budget increase, but regrets that inflation will absorb part of it. He calls for early timetabling of calls, better IT tools and more in-depth monitoring of cross-cutting priorities.

Key points

  1. The report assesses the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2021/818 in 2021 and 2022, based on limited data, and notes that indicators set by the new Regulation were not yet available.
  2. Creative Europe has three strands: Media (audiovisual), Culture (all other cultural and creative sectors) and Cross-sectoral, accounting for 58%, 33% and 9% of the financial envelope.
  3. The programme has a total budget of EUR 2.44 billion for 2021-2027, an increase of 68% over 2014-2020, and mainstreams inclusion, gender balance and greening.
  4. New features include higher co-financing rates, lump-sums, simplified financial capacity checks, multi-annual instalments and the corporate e-Grant system.
  5. The Culture strand added a mobility scheme, a sectoral approach, three project sizes for cooperation projects, and support for the European Heritage Label and awards.
  6. The Media strand is organised around four clusters and added support for video games and immersive content, MediaInvest and Media360°.
  7. The Cross-sectoral strand covers the news media sector for the first time and includes the Creative Innovation Lab and support for Creative Europe desks.
  8. Participation is open to member states and several third countries; provisional participation was granted to some countries until 31 December 2022 and extended until 30 June 2023.
  9. In 2021-2022, 67 calls were published and 1,909 projects were supported; success rates were 30% for Culture, 66% for Media and 23-24% for Cross-sectoral.
  10. The 2021 work programme allocated around EUR 300 million and the 2022 work programme around EUR 400 million; a third of the financial envelope was committed in the first two years.
  11. Parliament asks the Commission and member states to substantially increase the financial envelope for 2028-2034 and to avoid budget cuts in the coming years.
  12. Parliament calls for simplified administrative procedures, improved reporting, a better results platform, and more funding for the Culture, Media and Cross-sectoral strands.

Who is affected

  • Cultural and creative sectors, including audiovisual, music, books, architecture, design, fashion and cultural heritage.
  • Small and micro-sized organisations, which face administrative burden and limited resources.
  • Third countries participating in the programme, including EFTA/EEA countries, acceding, candidate and potential candidate countries, and European Neighbourhood Policy countries.
  • The Commission, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency and the Creative Europe desks, which manage and promote the programme.
  • Ukraine, whose artists and cultural sector received a targeted call of EUR 5 million.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 2.44 billion: total budget of Creative Europe for 2021-2027.
  • 68%: increase in the budget compared to the 2014-2020 programme.
  • 58%, 33% and 9%: shares of the financial envelope for the Media, Culture and Cross-sectoral strands.
  • 31 December 2024: deadline for the Commission's interim evaluation of the programme.
  • EUR 300 million: amount allocated under the 2021 annual work programme.
  • EUR 400 million: total budget of the 2022 annual work programme.
  • EUR 5 million: targeted call to support Ukrainian artists and cultural sectors.
  • EUR 1.5 million: endowment of the Melina Mercouri Prize.

Legal basis: Articles 167, 173(3) and 294(7) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.