The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
A meeting of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council was held in Brussels on 20 and 21 May. I represented the UK for the cultural and audiovisual section of the Council and Shan Morgan, the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative, represented the UK for the sport section of the Council.
Culture and audiovisual
The Council was invited to adopt two Council decisions relating to the European capitals of culture action.
The first decision formally designated Leeuwarden in the Netherlands as European Capital of Culture for 2018. Leeuwarden was selected by a European panel of experts following a competitive selection process, and will hold the title in 2018 alongside Valletta, Malta, which was formally designated by the Council last year.
The second decision established a procedure for the Council to appoint three experts to the European selection and monitoring panel for the European Capitals of Culture 2020-33, as established by decision 445/2014/EU. According to that decision, the Council will be entitled to appoint three experts to the panel every three years. The procedure adopted provides for three member states whose cities are not subject to selection or monitoring during the relevant three-year period to be selected by ballot.
Those member states will then nominate one expert each, selected from a pool of suitable candidates maintained by the Commission, to be appointed by the Council.
The UK supported the adoption of both of these Council decisions.
The Council was also invited to adopt conclusions on cultural heritage as a strategic resource for a sustainable Europe. The proposed conclusions show that cultural heritage is well placed to deliver a wide range of benefits for society as a whole. These benefits are associated not only with economic growth but also with good quality environment, social well-being, intercultural dialogue, promotion of a sense of belonging to a community, and ultimately, with the building of a more cohesive Europe. The UK supported the adoption of these conclusions.
The Council held a policy debate on the future EU work plan for culture. The debate was based on a discussion paper circulated by the Greek presidency which invited member states to identify their priorities for the next work plan. In the debate France called for an EU cultural strategy to guide the adaptation of EU policies to the digital environment, including in competition, trade and taxation policies. This was supported by several member states who saw challenges for culture arising from digitisation and globalisation. Germany proposed a new working group to monitor and evaluate the impact on culture of policies and proposals in other areas, while Portugal and Spain called for greater co-operation and co-ordination between member states and at transnational level. Other key issues raised by member states included cultural diversity, cultural heritage, the role of culture in education, support for the creative industries, cultural statistics and access to culture. For the UK, I argued for further work on new sources of funding for culture and on data collection and evaluation to establish the added value of culture. Italy noted that it will take forward work on the new Work Plan for Culture during its forthcoming Presidency of the Council.
The Commission presented an update on the state of play in the negotiations for the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States of America.
The Commission regretted that audiovisual services had been excluded from the negotiating mandate but assured the Council that this exclusion had been respected during the negotiations. In the exchange of views which followed, a number of member states, including France, Germany and Belgium, underlined their support for the exclusion of audiovisual services from the mandate and pressed the Commission to ensure greater transparency in the negotiating process. I restated our position that the UK would have preferred to include audiovisual services in the mandate; and I expressed our support for the Commission in seeking to negotiate an agreement which will benefit the EU and its member states, contributing to economic growth and job creation.
Sport
The Council was invited to adopt conclusions on gender equality in sport. These conclusions recognise the important role that sport can play in terms of promoting equal opportunities and social inclusion. The UK supported the adoption of these conclusions.
The Council also adopted a resolution on an EU work plan for sport. The work plan sets out a programme of activity for the 2014-17 period and follows on from the current work plan for 2011-14 which is drawing to a close. The resolution identifies three priority areas for action: integrity of sport, in particular anti-doping, the fight against match-fixing, protection of minors, good governance and gender equality; the economic dimension of sport, in particular sustainable financing of sport, the legacy of major sport events, economic benefits of sport and innovation; and sport and society, in particular health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA), volunteering, employment in sport as well as education and training in sport. The UK supported the adoption of the resolution.
The Council held a policy debate on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of major sports events. The debate was introduced by a joint presentation by David Grevemberg, CEO, and Gordon Arthur, director of communications, of the Glasgow Commonwealth games 2014, who provided an overview of the key challenges and opportunities presented by the games. They highlighted the importance of ensuring that such events are inclusive and create social, economic and environmental benefits for local areas and communities.
In the debate several member states highlighted the difficulty of competing with larger economies for major sporting events and some proposed joint bids between European countries both to share costs and as a way of matching bids from larger countries. Several member states noted that the economic, social and environmental aspects had to be factored into the planning of major events from the outset in order to ensure a lasting legacy. The UK used the example of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games to demonstrate the significant impact and transformative effect which major sports events can have on local communities and on levels of participation in sport. The Commission noted that all major events should be certified as “green”; and that through co-operation with the sports movement, human rights abuses around such events needed to be addressed.
Other Business
The Commission presented its communication on European film in the digital era; and the presidency informed the Council about the World Anti-Doping Agency meeting which took place in Montreal on 17 and 18 May.
Finally, Italy informed the Council of the work programme and priorities for its forthcoming Presidency of the Council. For culture and audiovisual, this will focus on the preparation of the next work plan for culture, as well as on the role of cultural heritage and digitisation. For sport it will focus on the role of sport in promoting economic growth.