Documents considered by the Committee on 6 May 2009 - European Scrutiny Committee Contents


5   International cooperation in the audiovisual industry

(30339)

5237/09

COM(08) 892

+ ADD 1

+ ADDs 2-3

Draft Decision establishing an audiovisual cooperation programme with professionals from third countries MEDIA MUNDUS

Commission staff working document: objectives, expected results and related indicators

Commission staff working documents: impact assessment and summary of assessment

Legal baseArticles 150(4) and 157(3) EC; co-decision; QMV
DepartmentCulture, Media and Sport
Basis of considerationMinister's letter of 24 April 2009
Previous Committee ReportHC 19-viii (2008-09), chapter 3 (25 February 2009)
To be discussed in Council12 May 2009
Committee's assessmentPolitically important
Committee's decisionCleared; but further information requested

Previous scrutiny

5.1  When we considered this draft Decision in February,[22] we noted that, although more films are produced in the EU than anywhere else except India, the EU's share of the USA's domestic market (total tickets sales) was only a little over 3% in 2006, whereas the USA had over 59% of the EU market. Moreover, the EU's average market share in other third countries is about 4%. The audiovisual sector in the EU suffers from fragmentation caused by the diversity of languages and ownership compared with the USA.

5.2  Since the early 1990s, the EC has had programmes to give individuals and businesses in the audiovisual sector financial help for such things as training, distribution and promotion. The latest programme is MEDIA 2007, which has a budget of €755 million for 2007-13.

5.3  The European Commission believes that there is scope to increase the competitiveness of the EU audiovisual sector and boost its market share overseas by encouraging cooperation between people in the business in the EU and their peers in third countries. It is currently running a pilot study (MEDIA International) to try out the idea and learn lessons. Meanwhile, the Commission proposes this Decision to set up a new programme (MEDIA MUNDUS) which would come into effect in January 2011.

5.4  The programme would have a budget of €15 million for three years. Projects would receive grants for up to 50% of their cost (more in exceptional cases). At least two EU nationals and one national of a third country would have to participate in the project. The programme would support, for example: training; the co-production of films by professionals from several Member States and third countries; and the development of international networks to finance, distribute and show audiovisual works.

5.5  The Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Barbara Follett) told us in January that the Government broadly supports the objectives of the proposal. But it wondered if €15 million is enough to achieve the objectives and would prefer the programme to be managed by the MEDIA 2007 Committee rather than a new Committee.

5.6  In the Conclusion to our report on our previous scrutiny of the draft Decision, we asked the Minister:

(i)  to provide us with hard evidence, if available, about the likely effectiveness of the MEDIA MUNDUS programme;

(ii)  to send us a draft of the Government's Impact Assessment of the proposal;

(iii)  to tell us the Government's views, and the opinions of other Member States, on whether the new expenditure the Commission proposes should be channelled through a new programme, MEDIA MUNDUS, rather than become part of an amended MEDIA 2007 programme; and

(iv)  whether, in her view, it would be appropriate to cite Article 151 EC, as well as Articles 150(4) and 157(3), as a legal base for the draft Decision because one of the stated objectives of the proposal is to enable the EU to play its cultural role in the world more effectively.

We decided to keep the draft Decision under scrutiny until after we have received the Impact Assessment and the other information for which we had asked.

The Minister's letter of 24 April 2009

5.7  In reply to our question about evidence of the likely effectiveness of the proposal, the Minister's letter of 24 April says that:

"… early results of the precursor programme, MEDIA International Preparatory Action are hopeful. The first set [of] results were announced in August 2008 when almost €2 million worth of funding was awarded to 18 projects involving partners from Third Countries like India, China, Japan, Morocco, Bosnia and Turkey. This money was used to fund training programmes; schemes designed to boost co-productions between European states and Third Countries and to help companies to access financing and new overseas markets. For example, the United Kingdom based company, Pygmalion, received €30,000 from this allocation to run financing, marketing and development workshops with professionals in India, Lebanon and Indonesia. This will allow substantial networking to take place and create development opportunities for all involved."

5.8   The Minister's letter also tells us that creating a new MEDIA MUNDUS programme is to be preferred to amending the MEDIA 2007 programme because it would be simpler, quicker and clearer for all concerned to have a separate, dedicated three-year programme to support projects involving audiovisual professionals from outside as well as inside the EU. This view is shared by other Member States.

5.9  As to our question about citing Article 151 EC (Culture) as one of the legal bases for the draft Decision, the Minister says:

"At the request of the delegates to the Working Groups and the European Parliament a new Recital in the Preamble of the proposal has been added. This says that:

'Community support to the audiovisual sector takes into account Article 151 of the Treaty, which states that the Community and the Member States shall foster cooperation with third countries and the competent international organisations in the sphere of culture, and that the Community shall take cultural aspects into account in its action, in particular in order to respect and to promote the diversity of its cultures."

5.10  We are grateful to the Minister for sending us her Department's Impact Assessment of the proposal. It suggests that the present value of the total cost of MEDIA MUNDUS over three years would be £12.2 million and the present value of the total benefits would be between £13.7 and £21.9 million, producing a net present value of between £1.5 million and £9.7 million.

Conclusion

5.11  The Minister has provided all the information for which we asked.

5.12  We note, in particular, her reply to our question about the citation of Article 151 (EC) as a legal base for the proposed Decision. We remind her, however, that Recital 7 of the Commission's draft Decision of 9 January contained a similar, though shorter, reference to the Article. In our view, a reference to the Article in a Recital is not sufficient and we suggest that Article 151 needs to expressly cited as a legal base on page I of the Decision, alongside the citations of Articles 150(4) and 157(3).

5.13  We should be grateful if the Minister would pursue our suggestion during the further negotiations on the document and tell us the outcome. But we see no need to keep the document under scrutiny meanwhile and we are, therefore, now content to clear it.





22   See headnote. Back


 
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