Financial Cuts to Culture in Europe

Autors: Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Fernando Maura Barandiaran, ALDE group MEPs

Since 2009, as a consequence of the financial crisis and in respect of a policy of austerity, funds to museums, theatres and cultural institutions suffered a drastic reduction. Italy, Greece, France and the UK are among the most affected countries, even though heritage and cultural life are major drivers of capital attraction for international tourism and creative entrepreneurship. Spain is also in a critical position: two years of budget cuts for the country’s cultural institutions, an increase in VAT for sales of art and a lack of policies to protect intellectual property, libraries and cinema, produced serious protests across the country. To dissent and express their criticism towards the bills of the Spanish Minister of Culture José Ignacio Wert, well-known artists are rejecting national cultural awards to protest the government’s policies towards culture.

While economic studies demonstrated in the last years that cultural and creative industries boost growth and business development – as reflected in the recent launch of the Creative Europe Programme – the place of culture within public policies is getting dangerously weak.

On the basis of the principle of subsidiarity, which concrete measures the European Commission is planning to take in order to positively influence Member States’ policies in Culture?

Тази публикация е достъпна и на следните езици: Bulgarian