Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-01-Speech-1-095"
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".
Mr President, the Commission would like to thank Mr Vander Taelen for drafting this report and welcomes and supports the conclusions that have been drawn. We shall, of course, take into account the comments made and the requests that you have put together, all the more so since Mr Vander Taelen has reminded us that this report is, to an extent, the message that he is leaving us as his legacy.
The communication on the film industry indicates the importance that the Commission attaches to the film industry and, more broadly speaking, to the audiovisual sector as a whole, for the development of our policies. We are, for our part, fully aware of and pleased with the agreement between Parliament and the Commission on these subjects. In addition, this House has already shown how much attention it has paid to this sector with the previous own-initiative report, also drafted by Mr Vander Taelen, a report which dealt with achieving better circulation of European films in the internal market and the candidate countries.
First and foremost, the communication on the film industry clearly explains the Commission’s positive and constructive approach towards national aid to the film industry. The audiovisual and film sector, which is specific due its dual – i.e. economic and cultural – nature, meaning that it is not left to the mercy of market forces alone, is also forced to continually adapt to constantly changing circumstances. The Commission has given its approval each time it has been notified by the Member States of state aids for supporting the national film industry. The national systems examined by the Commission are now fixed until 2004, which does not mean, however, that they would become illegal and that they would then have to be reviewed. This date simply means that, until then, the criteria that the Commission presented will not change and that, were they to change at a later date, then this would be due to new information that had come to light showing that such and such a problem had occurred.
As far as the other subjects mentioned in Mr Vander Taelen’s report are concerned, I would particularly like to point out that the Commission will support digital film – and I am responding here to Mrs Gutiérrez-Cortinez’s comments – and digitising of archives through various pilot projects included in the MEDIA plus programme. The other follow-up actions from the communication are currently being carried out.
With regard to the investigations into legal deposit procedures and registration schemes, groups of film industry experts will be convened this autumn and we shall commence the debate on the results of these investigations. Lastly, the studies which were announced in the communication have been started and the final reports should be available at the end of the year. And finally, I should like to point out to Mrs Fraisse that the work on the review of the Television without Frontiers Directive is underway. The first of three major studies has been published on the Commission’s web site. The two others will be published at a later date. We shall adopt in committee the report on the directive’s application between now and the end of the year.
Before I respond to two or three specific points, let us simply remember that the Commission’s communication, on which the report we are discussing this evening is based, is merely a first stage. We shall continue to work together to achieve the common goal that each of you, without exception, has mentioned this evening which is the vitality, development and growth of a creative and diversified European audiovisual sector.
Turning to the two or three slightly more specific questions, Mrs Sanders ten-Holte spoke of European cinema heritage. I should like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the CinEd@ys week which will take place between 15 and 24 November and which is designed to enable European citizens to discover some of the treasures of European film via the Internet and at their cinemas, thereby helping to make them more popular.
In response to Mrs Fraisse’s question concerning the idea of a European cinema television channel, this project has been discussed in various quarters for some time now. We have already financed a study that was carried out in 1997, the results of which were not very conclusive. State broadcasters are still studying the dossier, but there are obviously still a number of problems, particularly to do with copyright and the interests of producers who, putting funding, profitability and audience issues aside, have put the brakes on this project for the time being.
As for the idea, Mrs Fraisse – and I will finish with this point – of an international instrument establishing the principles of cultural diversity and the associates objectives relating to international agreements, to be honest, this idea has been up in the air for some time now. In this respect, some interesting work was carried out at UNESCO, but this work has not yet attained a sufficient level, either in terms of quality, or detail, or in terms of countries that are participating or willing to take part in this project. In the meantime, therefore, we shall continue the debate at the World Trade Organisation on the aspects relating to international trade negotiations within the audiovisual sector. We shall continue, as before, to fulfil the mandate that we were given, and which is to protect cultural diversity in this area, as in others."@en1
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