The title of the 8th Conference of European Ministers responsible for Cultural Affairs, which was held in Budapest on 28 and 29 October 1996, underlines the twofold nature of the Greater Europe project in the field of the cinema.
Consideration needs to be given to the common future of Europe's cinema.
There is no need to reiterate the importance of images in European society, an importance which is so self-evident. The cinema highlights every aspect of Europe's memory, its culture, its creations and its identity. Many of the delegations chose to emphasise this point, one hundred years after the appearance of the first moving images. Production and distribution issues were hence grouped together, while a distinction was maintained between protection of the audiovisual heritage and the issue of the cinema and young people. The delegations' observations on the subjects of protection of the audiovisual heritage and young people and the cinema brought to light many areas of agreement, but also a variety of pragmatic approaches and a wealth of useful experiences.