EU Funding Programmes Update 2007

The Programmes passed by the Council of Ministers include:

• Culture 2007
  This programme will take over from the current Culture 2000 programme and extend it, with a proposed budget of €400 million, through three objectives considered to offer strong European added value:
  • Transnational mobility for everyone working in the cultural sector in the EU.
  • The transnational circulation of works of art and cultural/artistic products.
  • Dialogue intercultural.
    
• Media 2007
  following on from the current MEDIA Plus and MEDIA Training programmes with a proposed budget of €1.055 billion, with the principal aims of:
  • Preserving and promoting Europe’s cultural diversity and cinematic/audiovisual heritage, ensuring public access to this heritage and encouraging dialogue between cultures.
  • Increasing the circulation of European films and other audiovisual productions, both inside and outside the EU.
  • Strengthening the commercial performance of the European audiovisual sector in an open and competitive market context
    
• Youth in Action 2007
  which aims to develop a sense of personal responsibility, initiative, concern for others, citizenship and active involvement at local, national and European level among young people. The programme will also help to improve support systems for youth activities. The budget is €915 million.

Being passed by the Council of Ministers means the first hurdle of the administration process has been cleared but the fate of each programme still depends upon the nature of the 2007-13 budget and final spending agreements.