COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 17 December 1999

on cultural industries and employment in Europe

(2000/C 8/07)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(1) RECALLING the Council Resolution of 4 April 1995 on culture and the multimedia(1);

(2) RECALLING the Council Resolution of 20 November 1995 on the promotion of statistics on culture and economic growth(2);

(3) RECALLING the Council Resolution of 20 January 1997 on the integration of cultural aspects into Community actions(3);

(4) RECALLING the Commission staff working paper "Culture, cultural industries and employment" of 14 May 1998 in which the Commission analysed the employment impact of the cultural sector and employment prospects in the sector;

(5) NOTES the new emphasis on employment in the Amsterdam Treaty, and, in particular, the importance of employment in other Community policies and activities, and the possibilities afforded by the creation of an employment strategy;

(6) RECALLS that the most important cultural industries include, inter alia, cinema and audiovisual production, the performing arts, music, visual arts, architecture publishing and press, multimedia, recording industries, design and industrial arts and cultural tourism and that the cultural heritage is an important basis for the creation of new cultural products;

(7) NOTES that according to data available, the cultural sector provided employment for some three million persons in the EU countries in 1995, which represented about two per cent of all the jobs in the EU, and that in the course of the 1990s employment has been growing significantly faster in the cultural sector than overall;

(8) STRESSES that progress in communication technology and the information society has substantially increased the number of distribution channels, which has boosted demand for new programme content, and that commodities and services in other sectors are increasingly developed and marketed with the help of cultural input, such as design;

(9) STRESSES that it is vital for European competitiveness and for cultural diversity to strengthen the cultural industries and that the cultural industries have substantial growth potential in the single market and the global market;

(10) NOTES that cultural industries, which rely heavily on human resources, constitute a labour-intensive sector, that people working in the cultural sector are often highly educated and qualified, that a significant part of the jobs are project-specific, short-term and part-time engagements in small and medium-sized enterprises and that the sector employs men and women in almost equal numbers;

(11) ESTIMATES that the growing demand for cultural services and commodities and especially the development of the information society and hightech branches will continue to create jobs;

(12) NOTES that cultural industry enterprises are often dependent on local partnerships and that cultural industries help local innovations to reach international markets;

(13) RECALLS that cultural industries are important for the future in terms of regional policies, such as Structural Funds; in addition to job creation, investment in the cultural industries enhances knowledge and know-how in their region, promotes social interaction and makes the region more attractive for enterprises and for citizens, it also contributes to making knowledge more accessible to the public;

(14) EMPHASISES that artistic and other creative work is the foundation for the viability and renewal for cultural industries;

(15) IS AWARE that it is difficult to obtain reliable and comparable statistics on cultural industries and their employment impact both at the national and the European level,

INVITES the Commission:

- to take into account the importance of cultural industries in current and future Community action and programmes,

- to pay attention to the important role of cultural industries for cultural diversity and for actions concerning employment,

- to encourage the dissemination of information about opportunities for the cultural industries in the Structural Funds, and to undertake studies to this end,

- to continue work on the preparation of cultural statistics, in particular as regards cultural industries and their impact on employment, and to facilitate exchange of information between Member States;

INVITES the Member States:

- to consider the role of the cultural sector in creating sustainable jobs within the context of their national employment action plans,

- to recognise the importance of the further training of creative artists and other persons working in the cultural field,

- to encourage cooperation in the promotion of cultural industries between the public and private sectors and to recognise the importance of training in the rapidly changing operational environment,

- to intensify coordination, cooperation and exchange of information between national authorities in questions relating to the promotion of cultural industries.

(1) OJ C 247, 23.9.1995, p. 1.

(2) OJ C 327, 7.12.1995, p. 1.

(3) OJ C 36, 5.2.1997, p. 4.