Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-14-Speech-4-024"
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"en.20050414.4.4-024"2
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".
Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this oral question by the Committee on Culture and Education and the following motion for a resolution on the draft UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity are the outcome of the acute interest which our committee has in the progress of negotiations on this important text.
We also believe that the Convention must recognise the very important role played by public services, notably public service broadcasters, in efforts to safeguard, support and develop cultural diversity.
Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, given the constant presence of the European Commission at the negotiations and taking account of the acute interest of the European Parliament in progress in the negotiations and its institutionally protected right to be informed immediately and fully at all stages of the process of the negotiation and conclusion of international agreements
· the European Parliament calls on the Commission to keep it informed about progress made in respect of the content and timetable of negotiations and
· the European Parliament asks when exactly the text is expected to be ready, so that it can be approved by the UNESCO General Assembly in Paris in October 2005.
Could the Commission please give us detailed updates on the various positions formulated within the framework of the negotiations?
The draft UNESCO Convention follows on from the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity made by UNESCO in November 2002, which was a positive step towards international cooperation but which has proved to be an inadequate response to threats to cultural diversity today from the intense globalisation of the market in cultural goods and services.
The UNESCO Convention has as its objective the defence and promotion of the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions through appropriate measures and aims to facilitate the development of cultural policies and encourage wider international cultural exchanges.
This Convention must, in our opinion, be a tool of international cooperation in favour of cultural development. We believe that the draft Convention represents a serious attempt to address the challenges posed to cultural diversity through globalisation and international trade policy. We all hope that it will constitute a binding standard-setting instrument for the protection of cultural diversity.
This is the only way forward for Europe, given the domination today on the European markets of American television and film productions, for example. I would simply remind you that American productions account for between 60% and 90% of purchases of audiovisual material in the Member States of the ΕU, whereas the corresponding European share of the American market is in the order of a mere 1-2%.
Within this framework, however, efforts are being made by a limited number of non-European countries, mainly in the English-speaking world, in a bid to weaken the proposed UNESCO Convention. That is why we need to resist pressure from these few but strong countries, so that the final text of the Convention clearly underlines the right of States Parties to develop, maintain and implement policies and laws designed to promote and protect cultural diversity and media pluralism. It is essential that any attempts to dilute or weaken these rights in any way through the Convention in question be successfully resisted.
Given that, even within the Union, there are different conceptions as to the content of the Convention, the Member States must make every possible effort to coordinate their positions, both among themselves and with the Community. We should point out here that any lack of unity will undermine the Union's position and credibility in the negotiations.
That is why we are insisting that the European Union and its Member States should do nothing during the process of the negotiation and conclusion of the Convention in question to compromise cultural diversity or undermine the ability of governments to support cultural diversity.
Consequently, the question of the relationship between international trade law and the future UNESCO Convention is a key aspect which should be approached in the best possible way and which must on no account be given a lesser priority."@en1
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