WRITTEN QUESTION E-1668/99

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(22 September 1999)

Subject: Aid to young artists

The aid and funding earmarked for artistic activities in the Member States are to a great extent made available exclusively to organisations and activities carried out jointly by several Member States.

A large proportion of artistic output, an enormous heritage of culture and development for Europe, is the work of individuals, who carry out an undeniably useful role both culturally and socially. It should also be borne in mind that individual operators in the various artistic fields represent an employment opportunity which must not be underestimated. The work of individual artists, the expression of Western and European thought, is an asset shared by all the citizens of the European Union.

In view of the above, can the Commission say:

1. whether there are programmes designed to fund the activities of individual artists considered to be of particular merit;

2. whether relevant provisions are currently being considered;

3. whether specific research has been carried out on art in the EU and its repercussions on employment;

4. what its general views on the subject are?

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(5 November 1999)

The EC Treaty gives the Community jurisdiction in the field of the arts. According to Article 151 (ex Article 128), action by the Community shall be aimed at encouraging cooperation between Member States, shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity, and shall foster cooperation with third countries and the competent international organisations in the sphere of culture.

Community action to promote culture has so far taken the form of the adoption of three programmes (Kaleidoscope, Ariane and Raphaël) and, for the future, a new framework programme (Culture 2000) is currently being approved by the institutions.

1. In full accordance with the EC Treaty and the principle of subsidiarity, the main objective of programmes in support of culture, based on Article 151 (ex Article 128) of the EC Treaty, has been and will continue to be to encourage cooperation between Member States in the cultural sphere.

As a result, in practice, Community action does not aim to support the work of individual artists; instead, it supports projects which show real European added value and involve cooperation between several parties (institutions, organisations, groups of individuals) from at least three different Member States.

It is important to note that Community action supports individual artists only in the specific context of certain European prizes (e.g. the Aristeion Prizes for literature and translation and the Mies van der Rohe Prize for European architecture).

2. As Article 151 of the EC Treaty also constitutes the legal basis of the new Culture 2000 framework programme currently being approved by the institutions the principal objectives of this programme must necessarily remain the same.

3. On 14 May 1998 the Commission published a working document on Culture, the Cultural Industries and Employment(1).

4. The Commission recently expressed an opinion on the future of Community action in the cultural sphere in its communication(2) to Parliament concerning the common position of the Council on the establishment of a single financing and programming instrument for cultural cooperation, in Culture 2000, the first Community framework programme.

(1) SEC(98) 837.

(2) SEC(1999) 1227 final.