LISBON OBJECTIVES: CONTRIBUTION OF THE
CULTURAL AND CREATIVE SECTORS
Letter from Shaun Woodward MP, Minister
for Creative Industries and Tourism, Department for Culture, Media
and Sport to the Chairman
I am writing to inform you of the Council Conclusions
which officials are currently negotiating, and which we expect
Ministers to adopt at the Culture and Audiovisual Council on 24
May 2007.
The Council Conclusions consider the economic
contribution that the cultural and creative sectors can make to
the achievement of the Lisbon agenda, and suggest the Commission
and Member States maximise this potential by agreeing on a series
of high level principles.
CONTEXT OF
THE COUNCIL
CONCLUSIONS
This strand of work has its origins in the Work
Plan for Culture 2005-06, agreed by Council Decision in autumn
2004. This was a Council initiative designed to focus successive
Presidencies and the Commission on a series of practical initiatives,
which would have tangible benefits for the cultural sector. The
work plan covered five initiatives, including the cultural industries'
contribution to Lisbon economic reform principles.
The Lisbon agenda strand of the Culture Work
Plan: (i) invited the Commission to publish a study outlining
how the cultural and creative industries already achieve the Lisbon
targets by contributing to Europe's economic, social and cultural
potential; and (ii) invited Member States to recommend further
action to enable the cultural industries to better meet the Lisbon
targets in terms of European growth, employment and cohesion.
The draft Council Conclusions relate to the latter objective.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
If the Council Conclusions were agreed they
would commit the Commission and Member States to:
1. Promoting evidence based policy making,
for example, through the establishment of a strong quantitative
base (statistics and indicators) for policy makers.
2. Strengthening the link between education
and the cultural and creative sectors, by promoting creativity
and business education.
3. Maximising the potential of SMEs in
the cultural and creative sectors, by the facilitation of
access to financing and integration the cultural dimension in
cooperation and trade agreements between the EU and third countries.
4. Making better use of existing structures,
programmes and initiatives, by strengthening the coordination
of activities and polices impacting on the cultural and creative
sector within the European Commission.
THE UK'S
POSITION
The UK is content with the draft Council Conclusions,
which have now been agreed by all Member States and the Commission
at official level prior to next month's Council. As I stated at
the Culture Council last November, the UK Government believes
that in order to achieve Lisbon goals, we should concentrate on
those objectives which have the ability to increase the productivity
of the sector the most.
During the negotiation of these Conclusions,
the UK has been keen to ensure that this work is not done in isolation
either from the cultural and creative industries themselves, or
from other legislation, programmes and initiatives affecting these
industries and which is being carried out elsewhere in the Commission.
FORTHCOMING WORK
The approach adopted by both Member States and
the Commission in this area since the Culture Workplan 2005-06
will be incorporated into the broader Culture Communication, which
is expected to be published by the Commission next month. The
Culture Commission will be deposited in Parliament and will be
subject to formal scrutiny by your Committee in due course.
26 April 2007
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