Media 2007
The EU "MEDIA" programme supports the audiovisual industries in Europe.
The present programme (2001-06) aims at strengthening the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry with a series of support measures dealing with training of professionals, development of production projects, distribution and promotion of cinematographic works and audiovisual programmes.
The existing programme comes to an end in 2006. The European Commission has set out its detailed legislative proposals for a new generation of the programme to succeed the current Media Plus programme and run from 2007 to 2013.
A new programme - MEDIA 2007 - is under consideration. The UK Presidency will seek to make progress on the development and agreement of the new programme.
The principal aims of the programme are to:
- Strengthen the competitiveness of the European film, TV and new media industries
- Increase the international circulation of European audiovisual product
- Preserve and enhance European cultural diversity
In addition the programme will have four horizontal priorities:
- Foster creativity
- Strengthen the production structure
- Reduce imbalance
- Follow and support market developments in digitisation
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In order to achieve these objectives the programme is expected to continue to target its actions on the pre- and post-production phases of film and programme making, i.e. acquiring skills and competence, development, distribution, promotion and pilot projects in digital technology.
More information on the MEDIA programmes can be found on the European Commission website.
During the UK Presidency of the EU we hope to make substantive progress on agreeing the Media 2007 programme.
It will be important, of course, to measure whether the programme achieves the three underlying objectives proposed. To this end, we are keen to secure the inclusion of SMART objectives (i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed) in the proposed MEDIA 2007 and Culture 2007 programmes currently being negotiated.
On 14 November 2005, at the meeting of the Culture and Audiovisual Council of Ministers in Brussels, Member States reached a "partial political agreement" about the Media 2007 programme.
This means that EU Ministers and the European Parliament agreed what actions the new programme should support, but that there has not yet been agreement on the budget for the new programme (to be discussed as part of the wider discussions on the EU budget). At the meeting, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, (in the chair) welcomed this agreement and the benefits it will bring to audio-visual industries across the EU.
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