4.17.0.     Cultural policy

LEGAL BASIS

1. Articles 3 and 151 (128) EC.

2. The Treaty of Rome did not contain a special chapter or paragraph concerning cultural policy. Only in the preamble to the Treaty was there a reference to culture as a factor capable of uniting people and promoting social and economic development. A number of summits of Heads of State and Government of the Community from 1969 onwards emphasised the need for Community action in the cultural field, and although the practical achievements in the field of culture were few in number they were not without significance, and the European Parliament had a considerable impact on these activities through its resolutions.

3. With the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty cultural policy got its own legal basis. Article 151 provides a basis for action aimed at encouraging, supporting and supplementing the activities of the Member States, while respecting national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore. The principles for intervention by the Community in the field of culture are complementarity and subsidiarity. Any act of harmonisation of legal and regulatory provisions of the Member States is excluded from the scope of Article 151. Measures are taken by codecision procedure by the European Parliament and Council and unanimity in Council.

OBJECTIVES

ACHIEVEMENTS

Community action focused on the protection of architectural heritage which covered pilot projects to conserve the Community's architectural heritage. It also awarded grants and scholarships to artists, provided assistance for literary translation and initiated the financing of cultural events. Typical examples include the programme 'European city of culture' established in 1985; and the formation of the 'EC Youth Orchestra' in 1976.

It has to be mentioned that many Community funded programmes such as the European Social Fund (*4.8.2.) and the European Regional Development Fund (*4.4.2.) may also provide funding for cultural projects in the European Union.

1. Cultural Programmes

a. The Kaleidoscope-Programme was set up in 1996 and aimed to encourage artistic creation and to promote awareness and dissemination of the culture of the peoples of Europe, particularly in the fields of the arts, by means of exchanges and cultural cooperation. The programme ran until 31 December 1998 and had a budget of ECU 26.5 million. It was extended until 31 December 1999 and the European Parliament succeeded in raising the funding to 10.2 million Euros, making a total programme budget of 36.7 million Euros.

b. The Ariane-Programme was adopted in 1997 for a two-year period (1997-1998) with a total budget of ECU 7 million and was extended until 31 December 1999. The European Parliament succeeded in increasing the funding which took the total cost to ECU 11.1 million. The programme intended to increase cooperation between Member States in the field of books and reading, and to promote a wider knowledge of literary works and history of the European peoples by means of translation and improvement of skills of professionals in this field. In addition, through the Ariane programme the EU each year makes a contribution to the Aristerion prize, a European literary prize for literature and a European translation prize.

c. The Raphael-Programme was adopted in 1997 for the period 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2000 with an overall budget of ECU 30 million. It aimed to encourage cooperation between the Member States in the area of cultural heritage with a European dimension.

d. Community Framework Programme
Kaleidoscope, Ariane and Raphael marked the first stage in the implementation of Community action on culture and have helped to reinforce and extend transnational partnerships, have improved public access to culture and promoted European cultural activities. These activities could, however, be improved and in response, in particular, to the European Parliament and after consultation of European cultural organisations, the Commission, in May 1998, proposed to establish a First European Community Framework Programme in support of Culture for the period of five years (2000-2004). The aim was to simplify Community action by using a single instrument for financing and programming cultural cooperation. The programme was formally adopted the 14 February 2000.
- The objectives of the programme are: promote dialogue and mutual knowledge of European culture, promote good practices concerning Europe's cultural heritage, promote creativity and transnational dissemination of culture and mobility of artists, develop new forms of cultural expression, and foster the intercultural dialogue between European and non-European cultures.
These objectives shall be achieved by three types of actions:
. innovative and experimental actions,
. cultural co-operation agreements,
. special cultural events with a European and/or international dimension.
- The Culture 2000 programme has a total budget of 167 million Euros and is open to participation by the countries of the European Economic Area, to Cyprus and the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Association Agreements.

a. European Capital of Culture
The European City of Culture was launched in Athens in 1985 and was a genuine success. The event began as an intergovernmental initiative, but at the request of the European Parliament, the European Commission in 1997 submitted a proposal for a Decision, based on Article 151, adopted on 25 May 1999 and which will end the designation of the cities by way of intergovernmental agreement and bring it into the Community framework as from 2005.

b. Cultural Goods
In view of the implications of the abolition of frontier controls in connection with the consolidation of the internal market, rules were needed for the protection of cultural goods. Therefore the Community has adopted Council Regulation 3911/92 according to which the export of cultural goods (amended by Regulation 469/96) is subject to the presentation of an export licence which is valid throughout the Community. The purpose of Council Directive 93/7 of 15 March 1993 (amended by Directive 96/100) is to secure the return of national treasures of artistic, historic or archaeological value that have been unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State.
In May 2000 the Commission published a report on the above-mentioned Regulation and Directive (COM(2000)325).

c. Copyright
The protection of intellectual property rights or copyright have both economic, social and cultural aspects. The creation of the European single market and the fast development of new technologies made it necessary for the Community to create legal protection for copyright. Accordingly, since 1991 a number of directives aimed at protecting intellectual and artistic creativity have been adopted. In December 1997 the Commission presented a proposal for a Directive on copyright and selected rights in the Information Society (COM(97)628) aiming to extend copyright protection to new forms of technology in the digital area such as Internet, CD-Roms, CDs and Digital Video Discs. The European Parliament in the first reading on 10 February 1999 adopted many amendments to the proposal many of which the Commission included in its amended proposal.

The dissemination and translation of works of literature are also particularly suitable areas for Community action, since they are one of the essential means of making culture known and widespread, and contribute to the extension of the cultural heritage, as well as to literary, artistic and audiovisual production.

d. Artists' resale rights
In 1996 the Commission presented a proposal for a directive concerning the harmonisation of artists' resale rights throughout the European Union(COM(96)97), because only eleven Member States have legislation on this topic (and very varied) and four have none. The Parliament on the 9 April 1997 supported the proposal with certain amendments and the Commission's modified proposal takes into account some of Parliament's proposals such as the exclusion of manuscripts from the original works of art concerned by resale right , and the introduction of a minimum rate (4%) where a national threshold lower than that of the Community is applied (1,000 Euro);
Although the Council's common position of 19 June 2000 takes on board many of the Commission's and Parliament's amendments the Commission has, in its assessment on 15 September 2000 of the common position, declared that it is unable to accept the text, mainly because of the introduction of a high application threshold and a ceiling, where artists will no longer be eligible to a resale right commensurate with their success (SEC(2000)1516). The European Parliament is now (October 2000) preparing its 2nd reading.

- The EP believes that Europe's position in the world is not merely determined by its political, economic, social and geographical standing but to a large extent by the position and strength of its cultural values. To emphasise the importance of the cultural aspect of Community policy, the EP after its first direct elections in 1979 decided to establish a Committee responsible for cultural matters.
- The EP has, also for many years, been of the opinion that the EC-Treaty should include a legal basis as regards cultural policy. With the adoption of the Maastricht-Treaty, it not only saw this wish fulfilled, it also obtained co-decision competence with the Council. This means that it gained influence on legislation adopted according to Article 151. The shortcomings of this article however became clear during the conciliation procedure with the Council concerning the Culture 2000 programme. Article 151 requires unanimity in Council and the EP had initially asked for 250 million Euros for this programme but one Member State, in particular, refused to go beyond the 167 million Euros proposed by the Commission. The EP/Council Conciliation Committee reached agreement on 167 million for the five years; the Council however accepted that an assessment of the results of the programme should be made by 31 December 2002 at the latest, including an examination of the financial resources available to it. Therefore the EP has asked for a change to a qualified majority in Council in its resolution concerning the content of the new EC Treaty to be adopted in Nice in December 2000. The EP had already asked for this change during the negotiations on the draft Amsterdam Treaty but without success.

13/10/2000