EU Media Chief: Proposed 30% Fund Cut 'Disproportionate

"Giuseppe Abbamonte, the European Commission's director of media policy, criticized a proposed 30% cut to AgoraEU, the EU's planned culture and media program, as ""disproportionate"" while speaking at the MIA market in Rome, C21Media reported. He noted that the cut is nearly four times the 8% reduction proposed for the overall EU budget, and pointed to market data showing U.S. companies have gained 9 percentage points of the European audiovisual market since 2016 while European companies have lost 8, according to C21Media.

The cut was proposed on October 10 by the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU and would remove about 2.3 billion euros from the program, Romanian news agency Agerpres reported. The European Parliament's interim report had instead called for a 25% increase, to 10.72 billion euros. AgoraEU is the proposed successor framework for the 2028 to 2034 budget period that would fold in Creative Europe, including the MEDIA strand that supports European film development, distribution and festivals. Earlier in the negotiations, Culture Action Europe called the Council's proposed AgoraEU funding levels ""entirely unacceptable.""

More than 560 European cultural, media and civil society organizations have signed a joint letter urging the program be protected, and 67 Romanian NGOs sent an open letter on October 14 asking their government to oppose the cuts, Agerpres reported. Screen International reported that European film bodies have also criticized the proposed cut. The figures are still subject to negotiation among member states and the Parliament."