COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Rights and Values programme Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Justice programme Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Creative Europe programme
Date: 2018-05-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, European citizenship, area of freedom, security and justice, cultural cooperation, cultural pluralism, fundamental rights, human rights, legal system, participatory democracy, rule of law

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 30.5.2018 SWD(2018) 291 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT  Accompanying the document Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Rights and Values programme Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Justice programme Proposal for a Regulation establishing the Creative Europe programme {COM(2018) 366 final} - {COM(2018) 384 final} - {COM(2018) 383 final}  - {SEC(2018) 274 final}  - {SWD(2018) 290 final}  
 
 
This  impact  assessment  was  prepared  to  analyse  a  possible  proposal  for  a  European  Culture,  Rights 
and Values programme  —  merging  the 2014-2020 Rights, Equality and  Citizenship programme, the 
Europe for Citizens programme and the Creative Europe programme  — and the Justice programme. 
On  2  May  2018,  the  European  Commission  adopted  its  proposals  for  a  new  Multiannual  Financial 
Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027. The Commission decided to have a self-standing Creative Europe 
programme and to create a Justice, Rights and Values Fund with two underlying funding programmes: 
the Justice programme and the Rights and Values programme. The impact assessment remains valid in 
underpinning all these initiatives. Under  these  proposals  over this period, the Justice and the Rights 
and Values programmes will have a budget of EUR 947 million while the Creative Europe Programme 
will have a budget of EUR 1,850 million.  

This impact assessment was prepared to support the preparation of the future funding programmes for 
values, rights, justice, culture, media and citizen participation. It analyses the feasibility of creating an 
EU  values  framework  in  the  EU  budget,  merging  four  current  funding  programmes  —  Rights, 
Equality  and  Citizenship;  Europe  for  Citizens;  Creative  Europe;  and  Justice  —  as  well  as  two 
prerogative  lines.  The  aim  is  to  simplify  and  streamline  funding,  develop  synergies  among  current 
programmes,  ensure  a  clear  focus  on  European  added  value  and  reach  a  critical  mass  of  funding  to 
promote and protect EU common values and deliver tangible results to EU citizens. 

The starting point of the analysis of the impact assessment is that the European Union is based on a 
community of values shared by all its citizens and rooted  in Europe’s history, democratic  principles 
and identity. These values are enshrined in the EU Treaty and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights 
and encompass, in particular, non-discrimination and equality, anti-racism and tolerance, rule of law 
and  independence  of  the  judiciary.  They  also  encompass  cultural  diversity,  freedom  of  expression, 
including media freedom, pluralism, citizen participation and artistic freedom. Our creations form our 
common cultural heritage and cultural and linguistic diversity and reflect and highlight the importance 
of artistic and creative freedom in Europe. Also, these creations make an important contribution to the 
fight against all forms of discrimination, including racism and xenophobia, and are at the heart of the 
EU  project  and  EU  identity.  To  be  able  to  play  this  inclusive  role  for  Europe’s  society  at  large,  the 
cultural and creative sectors need to be robust and competitive; artistic creations and cultural content 
need to be circulated within Europe and beyond. 

There are some challenges that are common to the policy areas analysed in the impact assessment: 

  Our vocation to build a strong internal market but also a community based on a common cultural 
bond, shared values, rights, historical and cultural heritage and people’s involvement is hampered 
by  the  tendency  to  focus  on  our  differences  and  not  on  what  unites  us.  Populist,  extremist  and 
nationalist  movements  are  challenging  the  idea  of  our  open,  inclusive,  cohesive  and  democratic 
society where cultural participation and capability based on education allow for the building of a 
more resilient way of living together. 

  The  fragmented  nature  and  limited  resources  of  current  EU  funding  programmes  dedicated  to 
values,  rights,  citizenship,  culture  and  media  limits  the  EU’s  capacity  to  respond  to  old  and  new 
challenges. This is particularly true in the context of the digital shift, and the effect has been even 
more  competition  from  US  players  in  European  audiovisual  and  cultural  markets,  with  tangible 
negative effects on Europe’s cultural diversity. 

The  consequences  of  not  addressing  this  double  challenge  could  be  very  high  if  confidence  in 
European  institutions  and  values  is  eroded.  The  quality  of  our  democracy  would  be  weakened,  and 
there are already alarming signals, considering, for example, that today only half of young Europeans 
regard democracy as the best form of government. Discrimination may be amplified by the misuse of 

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online  networks,  while  citizens  are  less  confident  in  exercising  their  rights.  Public  opinion  could 
become  increasingly  inward  looking  and  locked  into  national  media  and  cultural  ‘bubbles’  under 
deteriorating  indicators  of  media  freedom  and  pluralism.  This  would  also  affect  negatively  the 
development of a sense of European cultural identity. Europe’s image on the world stage would also 
be weakened, at a time when other global players are building up their soft power through culture. 

In the light of the above, three main scenarios were analysed: 

–  The status quo of maintaining four funding programmes. 

–  The  second  scenario  proposes  to  develop  synergies  among  the  current  programmes  and  to 
bring  these  synergies  together  under  a  single  political  chapeau  on  EU  values  with  two 
underlying funding programmes: the European Culture, Rights and Values programme and the 
Justice programme. 

–  A  third  scenario  would  see  the  creation  of  one  single  funding  programme  covering  all  four 

funding programmes listed above. 

The third scenario of one funding programme was discarded for reasons connected to the legal basis. 
However, given the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland on the area of freedom, security and 
justice and the position of Denmark as laid down in Protocols 21 and 22 annexed to the Treaties, the 
Justice  programme,  while  also  commanding  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure,  needs  to  remain    a 
separate instrument. 

The impact assessment compiled the lessons learned from the Creative Europe programme, the Rights, 
Equality  and  Citizenship  programme  and  the  Europe  for  Citizens  programme  to  propose  a  new 
structure,  and  it  explored  delivery  mechanisms  that  will  promote  EU  values  and  culture  while 
achieving  the  objectives  of  efficiency,  flexibility,  synergies  and  simplification  set  for  the  next 
multiannual financial framework. The results of the mid-term evaluation were duly taken into account. 
All the programmes evaluated have shown clear added value. However, the analysis showed that there 
is room for improvement from the current situation of four funding programmes. 

Therefore, a preferred alternative that is proposed to the current situation and baseline scenario 
is to develop synergies among the current programmes and prerogative lines and to bring these 
synergies  together  under  a  single  political  chapeau  on  EU  values  with  two  underlying  funding 
programmes: the European Culture, Rights and Values programme and the Justice programme. 
The new architecture aims at: developing synergies among policies where there is a common ground 
for action, while respecting their specific characteristics; reducing overlap and fragmentation; ensuring 
flexibility  in  the  allocation  of  funds,  while  ensuring  a  certain  degree  of  predictability  of  funding 
dedicated to each policy; fostering cross-sectoral and innovative actions; and ensuring a critical mass 
of resources to promote values, taking also into account the needs of each policy. The new clustering 
will make it possible to further exploit the potential of current programmes to promote EU values and 
increase  EU  added  value.  In  this  model  it  is  fundamental  to  take  full  advantage  of  the  interplay 
between cultural diversity, historical memory and the potential of the creative sector on the one hand, 
and principles such as justice, rights, equality and anti-discrimination on the other hand. The common 
denominator of citizenship will make this possible. 

The  overall  initiative  is  expected  to  increase  the  EU’s  potential  to  promote  and  protect  values  by 
developing  synergies  between  current  funding  programmes.  However,  the  proposed  programme 
acknowledges and maintains the specific characteristics of the individual  policies, including through 
the  design  of  specific  objectives  and  strands.  The  architecture  of  the  European  Rights,  Culture  and 
Values programme provides straightforward simplification, from four current funding programmes to 
only two funding programmes in the future. There is no ranking of the priorities between the different 

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strands  of  the  proposed  framework  or  between  the  priorities  within  a  strand,  but  the  design  of  the 
programme favours flexibility. 

On 20 April 2018, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board gave a positive opinion on the accompanying impact 
assessment. The Board included a recommendation to further improve the report, some key aspects of 
this  being  full  exploitation  of  the  evaluation  findings,  a  better  design  of  the  future  priorities,  a 
clarification  of  the  expected  impacts  of  the  changes  in  delivery  mechanisms.  These  aspects  were 
strengthened in the final version of the impact assessment. 

The Commission decided to have a self-standing Creative Europe programme and to create a Justice, 
Rights and Values Fund including two programmes: the Justice programme and the Rights and Values 
programme. The impact assessment remains valid in underpinning all these initiatives. This decision is 
reflected in the post-2020 MFF proposal package that the Commission presented on 02 May 2018 . 

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