Resolution on the Cultural Recovery of Europe

The overwhelming majority of the Members of the European Parliament (598 MEPs out of 686) have adopted the Resolution on Cultural Recovery of Europe. The text of the Resolution has been approved by all major Parliament groups. 

The Resolution aims at setting the vision on how the European institutions and the Member States should address the recovery of the cultural and creative sectors, and how culture can be a key driver in the recovery of Europe. IETM has been advocating for many elements this vision encompasses, before and during the pandemic (find the concise summary of our key areas of focus in this Policy Statement).

Here are the most pivotal points of the Resolution, some of which are quite innovative for the EU discourse on culture:

• The social and intrinsic values of culture are highlighted more than its economic assets.
• The Resolution recognises the atypical nature of work in the cultural and creative sectors (specific economic models, mixed and irregular incomes, etc.).
• There is a large focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cultural sector; however, the text also looks into the social rights and working conditions of artist and “vulnerabilities” existing in the sector before the pandemic;
• The Resolution recognises the importance of digitalisation in the creation, production, dissemination and accessibility of cultural and creative works, but it also underlines the pitfalls of digitising the arts - in relation to the equal access to “digital infrastructure”, “the right of participating in culture and the right to express art”
• MEPs stress that it is necessary to earmark for the cultural and creative sectors an essential part of the economic recovery measures planned by the European institutions (at least 2 % of the Recovery and Resilience Facility dedicated to the recovery); they also call on the Member States to include culture in all recovery funds.
• The Resolution contains a call on the Commission to identify whether the national financial distribution methods for cultural funding are accessible to all creators, and whether the allocation is independent, free and fair.
• There is an explicit demand to increase the overall budget of Creative Europe 2021-2027 to € 2,8 bln (the current Commission’s budget proposal for CE is € 1,6 bln).
• The focus is not only placed on the economic recovery of the sector; the Resolution brings to the spotlight the urgent need to improve the working conditions of the people working in the cultural and creative sectors; in this regard, it proposes to create a European framework for working conditions in the cultural and creative sector and industries, with a particular attention to transnational employment. 
• MEPs regard the current crisis as an opportunity to rethink the future of the cultural ecosystem, in terms of sustainability and climate change, and call on adapting the European cultural policy to the current environmental, social and other challenges the world is facing.

We hope the strong words will be put into action and will continue advocating for the better future for the arts.

Read the full text of the resolution here.

@Monte-meubles – L’ultime déménagement - Leandro Erlich; Nantes, place du Bouffay; flickr