Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Written Statements

[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 26 to 27 November. The UK was represented at the culture and audiovisual and sport sections of the Council by the deputy permanent representative to the EU, Shan Morgan.

Culture and Audiovisual

The Council adopted a revised partial general approach on the proposal for a regulation establishing the creative Europe programme for 2014-20. This programme will follow on from the current Culture, Media and Media Mundus programmes. The revised partial general approach incorporated the text relating to the proposed new loan guarantee facility into the partial general approach which was agreed at the Council meeting in May. It did not include the programme budget.

The UK did not support the revised partial general approach. We cannot consider supporting the loan guarantee facility until we are able to consider it in the context of the overall programme budget and in relation to the amount of funding allocated to grant expenditure. These will not become clear until the negotiations on the multiannual financial framework for 2014-20 have been completed. In addition, the revised partial general approach—like the previous partial general approach, which the UK did not support—does not provide for selection decisions, i.e. decisions about which projects will be awarded EU funding under the programme, to be subject to member state scrutiny through the formal comitology arrangements. However, we are able to support other elements of the revised partial general approach.

The Cypriot presidency presented a progress report on the proposal for a decision establishing the European capitals of culture action for 2020-33. This action will follow on from the current European capitals of culture action which ends in 2019. It envisages a further round in which each member state will have the opportunity to host a European capital of culture, with a selection and monitoring procedure similar to the current procedures but with some changes and improvements. In discussions in the Council working group, Member states have broadly welcomed the proposal but have identified a number of aspects which require further consideration. The UK has contributed some ideas and suggestions for amendments.

The Council adopted conclusions on cultural governance. These conclusions note the importance of research and statistics in cultural governance and in developing policies and strategies for the cultural and creative sectors; and they identify some key issues for future work and propose some actions for the Commission and member states to maximise the use and benefits of current work in these areas. The UK supported the adoption of these conclusions.

The Council also adopted conclusions on a European strategy for a better internet for children and held a policy debate on the internet: a better and safer place for children as a result of a successful interplay between Government and industry. The UK supported the adoption of the conclusions. In the debate member states agreed that co-operation between public and private players was essential to deal with rapid technological change and ensure that children were protected online, and most also supported the Commission’s emphasis on self-regulation. In this context, the UK reported on the work of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety and argued that more effective discussion and co-ordination of member state initiatives was needed. The Commission welcomed the UK’s initiative to appoint a UK digital champion.

Sport

The Council adopted, without debate, conclusions on strengthening the evidence base for sport policy-making and on promoting health-enhancing physical activity. The Council also formally designated the three EU representatives to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) foundation board.

The Council did not adopt draft conclusions on establishing a strategy to combat the manipulation of sporting results, because of a disagreement which could not be resolved over a paragraph encouraging member states to put in place adequate measures to fight illegal gambling offers, notably those from third countries. The text was instead adopted as presidency conclusions.

The Council debated a proposal from the Commission to establish a European week of sport and measures to get people “from the sofa to the playing field”. The UK argued that the Commission’s proposal should present something “conceptually different” and also explained how virtual media is being used to drive physical activity and engage people, especially young people.

Any Other Business

The French and Slovak delegations presented information on Marseille-Provence and Kosice respectively, which will be the European capitals of culture in 2013.

The French Minister raised concerns about the revised draft cinema communication on state aid for films and other audiovisual work. He argued that the Commission’s proposed new rules on territorialisation could jeopardise the diversity of the European film industry and called for further discussion before any decisions were taken. This was supported by a number of other member states. The UK intervened to support the latest Commission text and call for a speedy resolution of the issue. The Commission acknowledged that member states have different measures to support the film industry but agreed with the UK that the uncertainty should not be prolonged. The Commission agreed that a new round of discussions was required, but hoped that the text of the communication would be finalised in January.