EN Official Journal of the European Union C 175/1

Council conclusions on the contribution of culture to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy

2011/C 175/01

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

HAVING REGARD TO:

— the adoption by the European Council on 17 June 2010 of ‘Europe 2020’, a strategy for jobs and smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (1);

— the political background as set out in Annex to these conclusions;

RECALLING:

— Council recommendation of 13 July 2010 on broad guidelines for the economic policies of the Member States and of the Union (2), which in its Guideline 4 stresses the high economic potential of the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) and their role in promoting innovation;

— Council conclusions on Cross fertilisation between Europe 2020 flagship initiatives Digital Agenda for Europe and Innovation Union (3), highlighting the importance of cultural and creative content online and stressing the need to reinforce ‘the digitisation and dissemination of European cultural heritage, including through the digital library project “Europeana” ’;

— Council conclusions on Europe 2020 flagship initiative Innovation Union: Accelerating the transformation of Europe through a fast changing role (4), which recognise that the cultural and creative sectors represent an important source of technological and non-technological innovation, and that this potential must be fully unlocked;

— the Commission Staff Working Document ‘Analysis of the consultation launched by the Green Paper on “Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries” ’ (5) underlining that an overwhelming majority of respondents called for an important role for CCIs in the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship initiatives;

WELCOMING:

— the integrated guidelines for implementing the Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship initiatives;

WHEREAS:

— culture can make a significant and multidimensional contribution to the measures proposed by the Europe 2020 integrated guidelines and flagship initiatives aiming at turning the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy;

— in order to deliver this contribution, six priority areas for reinforced cooperation have been identified in the Council Work Plan for Culture 2011-2014 (6);

— cooperation between all relevant sectors and a targeted approach at all policy levels is urgent and key to harnessing this contribution;

— it is important that the governance structures of the Europe 2020 strategy are able to take into account input from the culture and creative sector;

STRESSING:

1. Culture’s contribution to smart growth

The CCIs are a major source of employment potential. In the last decade overall employment in the CCIs increased three times comparing to the employment growth in the EU economy as a whole (7). They are also a driver for creativity and non-technological innovation throughout the economy, producing high-quality and competitive services and goods. Finally, through relevant links with education, culture can effectively contribute to the training of a skilled and adaptable workforce, thus complementing economic performance.

2. Culture’s contribution to sustainable growth

Culture can contribute to sustainable growth through fostering greener mobility and the use of cutting edge sustainable technologies, including digitisation which assures the online availability of cultural content. Artists and the cultural sector as a whole can play a crucial role in changing people’s attitudes to the environment.

3. Culture’s contribution to inclusive growth

Culture can contribute to inclusive growth through promoting intercultural dialogue in full respect for cultural diversity. Cultural activities and programmes can strengthen social cohesion and community development as well as enable individuals or a community to fully engage in the social, cultural and economic life;

INVITES MEMBER STATES TO:

— take into consideration the cross-cutting character of culture when formulating relevant policies and national reform programmes regarding the achievement of the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy and to share good practices in relation to the tools and methodologies to measure the contribution of culture to these targets;

— strengthen the synergies and promote partnerships between education, culture, research institutions and the business sector at national, regional and local levels with special regard to talent nurturing and the skills and competences necessary for creative activities;

— make use of EU financial instruments — in particular Structural Funds — to recognise the potential of culture and CCIs as drivers for development in regions and cities and, where appropriate, to integrate them into smart specialisation strategies (8);

— encourage, in order to promote sustainable development, sustainable and green technologies in the processes of production and distribution of cultural goods and services and to support artists and the cultural sector in raising awareness of sustainable development issues through inter alia non-formal and informal educational activities;

— explore the role of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in community development and in promoting active citizenship and take it into consideration when drawing up relevant local and regional development strategies;

— respond to the training needs and capacity-building priorities of the specialised institutions and professionals that carry out effective socio-cultural work;

— consider the capacity development needs in public cultural organisations in order to enable them to deliver suitable services, with special regard to their socio-cultural functions;

INVITES THE COMMISSION TO:

— consider, without prejudice to the upcoming negotiations on the new multiannual financial framework, how its proposals for future EU policy and financial instruments can fully take into account the contribution of culture to the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy;

— pursue the cooperation between all relevant Commission services in order to emphasise the role of culture in the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and ensure that it is reflected in relevant policies, guidelines and governance arrangements;

INVITES THE MEMBER STATES AND THE COMMISSION, WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPETENCES, TO:

— deploy the statistical framework being developed by ESSnet culture with a view to producing reliable, comparable and up-to-date information on the social and economic impact of culture and work on future priorities on the basis of recommendations issued by ESSnet-culture;

— build upon the results contained in the Commission Staff Working Document referred to above and seize the opportunity of the European Creative Industries Alliance in order to strengthen the CCIs, in particular SMEs and micro-enterprises, and explore new ways to further increase their own innovation capacity as well as their capacity to boost innovation in other sectors;

— promote the digitisation of and access to cultural heritage and contemporary cultural content, including audiovisual works, in particular through Europeana, thus also promoting and preserving cultural diversity and multilingualism in full respect of the copyright and related rights;

— promote sustainable cultural tourism as a driver for cohesion and economic development;

— explore how to strengthen strong cultural component in lifelong learning in order to contribute to the development of key competences (9), with a view to feeding into policymaking in this field.

(1) EUCO 13/1/10 REV 1.

(2) OJ L 191, 23.7.2010, p. 28.

(3) Doc. 16834/10.

(4) Doc. 17165/10.

(5) Doc. 8224/11 — SEC(2011) 399 final.

(6) OJ C 325, 2.12.2010, p. 1.

(7) European Competitiveness Report 2010, SEC(2010) 1276 final.

(8) Commission Communication of 6 October 2010 on ‘Regional policy contributing to smart growth in Europe 2020’ — COM(2010) 553 final.

(9) Key competences are defined in the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning (OJ L 394, 30.12.2006, p. 10).