Session 1: The basis of the Europe 2020 Strategy / Towards a Creative Europe Programme / Other programmes and actions in perspective

Moderated by Odile Wolfs

lives in the vicinity of Maastricht and recalls that they do have St. Martin church. It reminds of the man who cut in half his coat to share it with a poor man.
works in Maastricht as Representative of Limburg
was Minister for Culture
Vice President of Les Rencontres

Anne Houtman, Head of the European Commission Representation in France

Claire-Lyse Chambron, Policy Officer – DG Education and Culture, European Commission

Anne Houtman

since July 2010 head of EU Commission in France

not in charge of culture but at EU in charge of everything: fisheries, energy etc.
general framework of the strategy of EU 2020 – framework for action in the long term to give us coherence and continuity
follows Lisbon Strategy
objective: get Europe out of the crisis
based on a model of growth
first of all, it is linked to a European culture in terms of economy: intelligent growth – creativity, innovation, high level of education
secondly, the long term perspective reflects a concern about future generations, hence it is a model of sustainable development;
third, it strives for an economy which is inclusive and by which we mean in opposition to exclusion – worst form is cultural and social exclusion
thus it is social, environment, and economic model
with a series of goals with 5 domains: employment 75%, research and development – invest 3% of GNP, climate change and environment 20 + 20 : 20% of energy from renewable energy sources, 20% reduction of carbon emissions and 20% lower in our energy consumption
the fourth domain is education: reduce the drop out level and 40% of the population should have a higher diploma by 2020
and the fifth one is related to fighting poverty and exclusion – 80 million classified as poor – reduce that 20 mill. Seems not much but due to the crisis in need to be tackled.
How does it work: certain states have already 20% renewable energy while others may not be able to reach this – 27 specific objectives for each member state – France e.g. is at the same level but needs to reduce renewable energy due to use of nuclear energy -
what strategy we take to achieve these objectives. Here the Commission has decided to focus on innovation, second on youth destined to help them to find employment and mobility, third program is digital development e.g. digitalization of European cultural heritage, fourth domain – smart to green growth with initiative on enhancing European resources – industry / recycling of waste -
a sixth and seventh point – social Europe: inclusion – new jobs – have people better prepared for the labour market and the Platform against poverty to bring people together to fight poverty
these are the set parameters
there are 3 instruments to develop these initiatives: 1) single market – intellectual property rights 2) budget – for 2014-2020 period – Europe has a budget which is ridiculous in comparison to USA – culture has a very small part in this budget – try to coordinate policies with that of member states especially to aid cinemas – problems of transmission is the problem of language (interpretation / translations) – to promote sharing of common things; 3) policy concerning external relations (diplomacy, commercial) and should strengthen our internal goals – cultural diversity of Europe an asset – how to sell the European model -
another element is governance – differs from Lisbon – all the stake holders are involved – national parliaments - Commission more involved in the national policy making – a place for national parliaments – social partners and local authorities – clear that the strategy can only be realized if everyone is involved and all go in the same direction – millions of small efforts can contribute to energy efficiency
another element is a very precise planning of the regular and control system – European Semester: begins in January - every entity considers the objectives and the member states must prepare national plans to show how they will implement – must concern the financial, the macro economic level and structural reforms – this takes place in May and then the EU Commission examines to put recommendations to the European Council by June – peer review leading to national policy following European objectives – response to economic interconnectivity

Odile Wolfs: EU 2020 is based on sustainable development and therefore it is a question, if it gives a new perspective to European citizen and how can culture contribute to this new perspective?

Anne Houtmann - culture in daily life is also about respect of our environment – culture is a part of quality of life – strategy is to improve the quality of life

Claire-Lyse Chambron

represents the EU Commission – we want to have you participate in the common reflection on how culture can contribute to the EU 2020 strategy. Indeed, this is not evident since culture does not appear in the flagship initiatives – but something is important to be kept in mind – strategy aims to improve the quality of life – it is linked to culture being included in the treaty – thus it is a question of the contribution made by regions to the strategy of smart growth – clearly there is an emphasis on cultural and creative industries. As to the question about their key role to contribute to sustainable development, there is a political answer given by the communication of the Commission.

In reflection of recent developments at European level, the emphasis upon industrial domains means a broad expression of culture since it includes design, fashion, creative, but also cultural heritage

Open Coordination Method – agenda for culture followed the important progress made with recognition of cultural diversity in 2005 with 4 priorities:

cultural diversities, inter cultural dialogue, inclusive Europe
cultural competence
cultural heritage
cultural industries and creative industries

Handbook – Guide – to inform local and regional authorities – about potential of creative and cultural industries – how to formulate strategies in favour of these industries – can be used for planning e.g. Structural Fund.

Other working groups – international dimension of culture

Creative Europe Program – there was a need to define a cultural program which should be in line with the EU 2020 strategy – response to digitalisation, fragmentation ...need to add an extra value to these activities to emphasize the European dimension 1.8 Billion – not a big amount – regional fund 348 Billion – as a symbol it is very important – don't want to sell it – we are quite satisfied with this programme – there is an increase 37% of the budget – try to give answers to the needs of artists and cultural organisations – what will make the difference of this programme which does not give answers to all questions?

it makes a difference to give more money to develop cultural competencies
and more funding for transnational activities
while continuing to support program of the audio visual sector – MEDIA
and as novelty facilitating access to private funding – to be accompanied by a better knowledge of the banking sector

Another advance – not exactly a programme – have adopted a communication about the Cultural and Creative Sector – politically quite important – Green Paper (2010) – what is included in this document: wide interpretation to this industry – it is important for the future of the EU. The Green Paper looks at all levels of governance (local to EU) is to develop integrated strategies – integrated support reflects EU policy – we have seen the impacts and repercussions in the cultural sector e.g. in the development of skills, innovation etc. The Paper show that societies which spend more than the average on creative sector have 25% better chance of bringing onto the market innovative products and at the same time helps to improve quality of life.

Allows also to work with other policies – education, industrial, tourism, educational etc. - till now the EU has been working too often in isolation and thus the emphasis is on integrated strategy.

Policy of Cohesion – being negotiated right now – one figure: investment 347 Billion Euros – identify 6 Billion Euros given directly to culture – sub-divided 3 Billion to cultural heritage, 2.2. cultural infrastructure and the rest for the cultural services i.e. 800 million.

Question about investments left to further discussion.

11 investment priorities
what are cultural investments or investments in culture / differ from subsidies

Territorial cooperation – European funds – are linked to FEDA – 2014 – 2020 – in future will have general focus on the common agricultural fund – Maritime and Fishing – the approach is more coordinated – more inclusive but the objective is to improve the synergies of the different budget source.

The proposal is being studied currently by the Council to be adopted in 2013 so that we have a new generation of programmes which can be launched in 2014.

Common strategic framework to help the creative and cultural sectors within the cohesion framework since relevant to the local and regional levels. EU Commission seeks partnership. Seeks a way to support this sector.

Current or ongoing negotiations – the challenge the regions to make strategic investments in culture to help regional development.

DG Education and Culture – work close together – produced a hand book about 'smart specialisation' - DG Regio – how to use the structural fund for the next program period – key entry: partnership contract – more difficult at operational programmes.

Brief discussion:

Odile Wolfs: European programmes were fragmented and segmented – real innovation come from cross overs – it was important to break down the different domains – programmes for social cohesion is already used for culture

Claire Lyse Chambron – culture through the structural fund.

Question from audience– worried that artists and young people who do not find that their place although they are asked to re-imagine this world when such a system is being implemented – frameworks like utopia

Anna Houtmann – should not underestimated the value of artists -

Claire Lyse Chambron: The EU cultural programme does take artists and their background into consideration, best shown in how many artists have been funded.

Question from the audience: energies created and how can they be included ...local communities differ from what this Capital and System is being implemented on quite another premise.

Notes for further reflections:

how to bring about a basic clarification of the term 'culture'?
how to identify cultural heritage and culture insofar this can take everything onto the next higher level requiring sophistication often rejected as being too complex to be managed for the sake of 'visible results'?
There is a matter of compatibility if the EU 2020 strategy really answers the question of sustainable development and in particular the need for cultural sustainability of the development to come.

On smart specialisation:

guidelines for regions to improve innovation and research as based on past experiences

the guide sets out a number of practical steps to design a national/regional RIS3, namely:

1. the analysis of the national/regional context and potential for innovation,

2. the set-up of a sound and inclusive governance structure,

3. the production of a shared vision about the future of the country/region,

4. the selection of a limited number of priorities for national/regional development,

5. the establishment of suitable policy mixes, and

6. the integration of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

Further questions about EU 2020 vision in need to be taken up:

while research follows a systematic rationality, innovation is much more linked to an improvised learning process with chance and coincidence to be only experienced if open and forward looking, what does the name 'Creative Europe' suggest if creativity cannot be planned?
reference of vision to nation / country – where does this leave the European dimension?
governance requires a shared vision and decisions made on a consensus model which is increasingly challenged if it does not produce the desired result, so that there are build in dynamics in the decision making process of the European Union most difficult to follow by ordinary citizens - what shall be done to improve governance from this perspective?
due to stress on competition and economic growth while austerity measures are being applied, what happens to the prime goal of social and economic cohesion throughout Europe, especially if specialisation of regions becomes mandatory policy in the new funding period?
how shall be faced contradictory developments (lack of competition compared to tough and intense competition, no or false investments since too often short term speculations rather than long term investments, tax and fiscal base in disarray, but also contradictions in spending priorities and loss of investments fore mostly due to doubt in political decision makers as being still reliable, what can be done if this doubt is expressed in terms of loss of public trust in what political bodies can uphold in promises made?
it seems as if politics is reduced to constantly changing parameters for doing business, how then to counter this wrong kind of creativity when a political administration feels being put under pressure and resorts to fake political accountability in face of the need to deliver visible results?
experiences gained only within very specific administrative set ups leave aside citizens from participation in European projects, what can be done to open up European projects to non Experts and to initiate dialogues between citizens and the European Parliament rather than with the European Commission as is right now the case?
how compatible is regional specialisation with sustainability?

Links:

The basis of the Europe 2020 strategy

http://poieinkaiprattein.org/economy/eu-strategy-2020/

Economy of experience

http://poieinkaiprattein.org/economy/eu-efforts-to-combat-poverty-and-social-exclusion-2010-2/economy-of-experience/

Towards a Creative Europe Programme:

http://poieinkaiprattein.org/europe/european-agenda-for-culture-2007/creative-europe/

Other programmes and actions in perspective - structural fund Reports on culture and the structural funds in some Member States

http://ec.europa.eu/culture/news/20120924-reports-structural-funds_en.htm

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Session 1: The basis of the Europe 2020 Strategy / Towards a Creative Europe Programme / Other programmes and actions in perspective