Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a decision of the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of a programme of support for the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA 2007)
Date: 2006-08-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, audiovisual communications policy, audiovisual industry, cultural transmission, economic and social cohesion

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 10.8.2006 
COM(2006) 450 final 

2004/0151 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning 

the common position of the Council on the adoption of a decision of 
the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of a programme of 
support for the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA 2007) 

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2004/0151 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning 

the common position of the Council on the adoption of a decision of 
the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of a programme of 
support for the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA 2007) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2004) 470 final– 2004/0151 (COD)): 

15 July 2004. 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

6 April 2005. 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions 

23 February 2005. 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

25 October 2005. 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

24 July 2006. 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  Commission  proposal  is  to  establish  a  European  support  programme,  MEDIA  2007, 
following  on  from  the  current  MEDIA  Plus  and  MEDIA  Training  programmes  with  a 
proposed budget of € 1.055 billion. Its principal aims are: 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  and  strengthening  the 
commercial  performance  of  the  European  audiovisual  sector  in  an  open  and  competitive 
market context.  

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

3.1. 

General remarks  

The  Commission  notes  that  the  Council  has  reached  an  agreement  by  unanimity.  The 
Council’s  common  position  takes  up  in  essence  the  amendments  made  by  Parliament.  It 
proposes  a  small  number  of  changes  to  the  Commission’s  original  proposal,  including  a 
change in the budget amount of the Programme. 

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3.2. 

Response to Parliament’s amendments adopted at first reading 

The Commission fully accepted the majority of the Parliament's amendments: 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 
11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 25, 29, 32, 36, 37, 44, 46, 50, 58, 59, 60, 62, 66, 72 and 75.  

The Commission accepted in principle or partially the following amendments: 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 
18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 30, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 53, 54, 56, 61, 63, 67, 68, 76 and 77. 

The Common Position integrates all the amendments accepted by the Commission. 

The Commission rejected the following amendments: 3, 15, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 39, 49, 51, 
52, 55, 57, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 80, 81, 82 and 83. Some of these amendments went 
beyond  the  objectives  of  the  Media  2007  programme  or  fell  outside  of  the  scope  of  the 
programme;  others  referred  to  actions  and  objectives  already  covered  by  the  programme. 
Certain  other  amendments  were  not  acceptable  because  they  would  not  help  to  reduce  the 
imbalance in the European audiovisual market between Member States with low production 
capacity and Member States of high production capacity. Finally, the Commission could not 
accept either amendments referring to the Treaty establishing a Constitution, or amendments 
on the possibility of opening the programme to third countries. 

3.3. 

New provisions introduced by the Council 

Certain  minor  changes  have  been  introduced  by  the  Council  in  its  common  position,  which 
are acceptable to the Commission. 

There  are  two  substantive  differences  with  respect  to  the  Commission’s  proposal:  the 
provisions  on  comitology,  which  continue  the  Committee  arrangements  implemented  under 
the current MEDIA programme. 

The  only  other  new  element  apart  from  the  budget,  which  the  Council  proposes  to  set  at 
671 M€  (in  2004  price  values)  and  which  results  from  the  agreement  on  the  Financial 
Perspectives for 2007-2013 is the inclusion of an indicative breakdown in the Annex in line 
with the previous decision on MEDIA Plus. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that the Council’s common position does not substantially modify 
the objectives and scope of the Commission’s proposal. 

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