Activities of Monica SEMEDO related to 2020/2261(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT on the situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU
Amendments (55)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the CCSI mainly comprise of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and self-employed entrepreneurs, whoorganisations and enterprises with restricted access to financial markets, as well as self-employed artists, cultural workers, freelance professionals and entrepreneurs, who are more likely to work part-time and often draw on irregular and mixed incomes from different sources;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the containment measures taken by the Member States affected the CCSI more than any other sectin response to the COVID-19 pandemic have severely undermined the fragile cultural and creative ecosystem, thus endangering the cultural and artistic creation and expression and weakening the contribution of arts and culture on our wellbeing, cultural diversity, democracy and more; whereas the CCSI experienced losses in turnover of over 30 % for 2020 – a cumulative loss of EUR 199 billion – with the music and performing arts sectors experiencing losses of 75 % and 90 % respectively8 ; __________________ 8 Ernst & Young, Rebuilding Europe: The cultural and creative economy before and after the COVID-19 crisis, January 2021.
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the development of thea multidimensional European framework for working conditions in the CCSI will require coordination with EU policies on employment, competition, the internal market, social policy, fundamental rights and equality, and copyright, and funding for culture, as well as permanent monitoring of the progress of Member States on improving working conditions in the CCSI and sharing best practices among them while fully respecting the fields of competence of the European Union and its Member States;
Amendment 4 #
F. whereas since the Parliament’s call for improvements to the situation of artists in its resolutions of June 2007, noNovember 2016 and September 2020, not much progress has been made and most of itstheir demands remain valid, especially in the light of the great differences between support schemes for artists and cultural professionals in different Member States and the fact that the situation of artists has deteriorated and thus most of its demands have become urgent;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the COVID-19 crisis has made artists and cultural and creative professionals even more vulnerable,exposed the pre-existing vulnerabilities of the CCSI characterised by intermittence, heterogeneity and instability, fragile livelihoods of artists and cultural workers, as well as the tight budgets of many cultural institutions and the insufficient public funding and has put artists and cultural and creative professionals and workers into even more precarious situations as the loss of earnings for freelancers and non-standard workers, who make up the majority of the CCSI, has been often exacerbated by weak or absent national social security schemes and dedicated support measures;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the ongoing impact of the pandemic has made it impossible for the majority of artists and cultural and creative workers to carry out their jobs andactivities and to keep their jobs, while it generated uncertainty over future prospects that couldare already causeing professionals to leave the sector, which will have a long-lasting effect on the composition and diversity of the European CCSI as a whole and discourage young people from working in these industriesas well as people from marginalised groups from working in these sectors and decrease creativity of the European society and economy as a whole;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas themany Member States enacted substantial emergency measures to help the CCSI to survive the crisis; whereas, however, this support was not available to some artistvaried greatly among Member States and was not always suitable for all CCSIs and was sometimes delivered with delays which jeopardise parts of the CCSIs; whereas the support was not available to several categories of cultural workers, artists and cultural mediation professions on account of their particular working status and as such was not sufficient to ensure sustainable working conditions; whereas the late and sometimes insufficient public support lead the sector to have to rely on itself for support, emphasizing the need for functioning support mechanisms to safeguard social rights of artists and cultural professionals and protect diversity of cultural expression;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
Ja. whereas several definitions of artists and cultural workers coexist in the EU making potential harmonisation challenging; whereas, many workers in the cultural and creative industries, including but not limited to writers, literary translators, producers, technicians, suffer from uncertainty due to the lack of consistent definition of their status;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas several Member States have specific legislation in place providing a special status for artists to guarantee them access to social benefits; whereas, however, this legislation varies considerably between the Member States, which can hinders the mutual recognition of the status of artists and cultural and creative workers, cross-border collaboration and mobility, thereby creating barriers to cultural and artistic creation, expression and free movement and ultimately European cultural diversity and social sustainability;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas artists tend to have atypical work patterns and often lack proper social security protection, notably in cross-border contexts, which often leads to their exclusion from pensionand cultural and creative workers tend to engage in atypical work patterns due to the nature of the sector itself and are often subjected to insecure working arrangements impeding their access to full social security protection and excluding them from pension, health care and unemployment payments;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas artists’ and cultural and creative workers' remuneration is often unstable and uncertain, it comes from different sources such as contracts, royalties, grants and subsidies, which renders their income highly unpredictable, leaves them in precarious situations and weakens their resilience;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the lack of and obstacles to collective bargaining for self-employed artists and cultural and creative workers, further serves to undermine their position on the labour market and leads to a lack of adequate social protections and a long- term negative effect on their position and security; whereas collective management of authors rights represents a major source of income for a majority of creators and artists in Europe, ensuring their continuous remuneration and should also protect them from unfair practices of large and dominant media and streaming platform companies;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas cross-border mobility is an essential part of an artist’rtists, authors, performers and all cultural creators and cultural workers work but is often hampered by bureaucratic procedures, a lack of clear information and myriadany administrative rules and requirements across the Member States, notably as regards to social protection and taxation, as well as complicated and expensive procedures for the specific transportation needs for artistic fragile equipment; whereas these barriers to cross-border cultural mobility undermine the principle of free movement;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas public grants are considered the most vital and effective form of financial support for the CCSI, but are often difficult to accesinsufficient, overly bureaucratic and too difficult to access or inaccessible particularly for marginalized groups and sometimes biased by political influence which discourages especially aspiring artists and creators from applying; furthermore the lack of an overarching European funding strategy for the sector by the Commission, the diverse sources within the MFF and their lack of mainstreaming additionally hinders access to public grants;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
R. whereas access to finance remains the main challenge for individual artists, who are often ineligible for loans and bank guarantees and are highly dependent on public grants and subsidies; especially for smaller actors in the CCSI, including individual artists, artists collectives, and cultural and creative workers, who are often ineligible for loans and bank guarantees thus increasing the importance of access and availability of public and private grants and subsidies; reiterates the importance of supporting all cultural sectors, including cultural mediation professions, which play a vital role as an interface between the public and the artistic work or heritage, thereby ensuring access to and dissemination of culture to a wide audience;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S
Recital S
S. whereas many private investors have scaled back their financial support for cultural projects during the crisisand public funders have scaled back or completely cancelled their financial support for cultural projects, especially those with a cross-border dimension, during the crisis; whereas this underlines the importance of reliable and constant public funding;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S a (new)
Recital S a (new)
Sa. whereas although the participation of women in the cultural and creative sectors is high, there is still much gender based discrimination, lack of access, gender pay gap, obstacles to representation and visibility. and women rarely occupy key creative roles or decision-making positions in cultural institutions; whereas women artists are often silenced and subject to disproportionate criticism as a result of their work and women and LGBTIQ+ artists are more likely to be targeted by attacks or subjected to restrictions;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S b (new)
Recital S b (new)
Sb. whereas artists and cultural professionals from marginalized groups, including women, young people, representatives of racial, ethnic and geographic minorities, people with vulnerable socio-economic background, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ people, have lesser access to artistic and cultural careers, fewer possibilities to develop long-term careers in the sector; whereas the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially strong on women and has exacerbated the already existing obstacles in terms of access, equal payment, representation and visibility in the CCSI of those groups;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T
Recital T
T. whereas freedom of expression and freedom of the arts, as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, are currently under threat in several Member States by state interference and politically driven restrictions and are sometimes hindered by the use of antiterrorism legislation or allegations that artistic works insult religious feelings or national symbols, or are deemed to be offensive or inappropriate, also resulting in cases of self-censorship;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)
Recital T a (new)
Ta. whereas, in light of the consequences of the pandemic, a whole generation of young artists and cultural workers will struggle to find cultural employment or enrol in higher art education as a result of the narrowing of opportunities; whereas artists under 30 are more likely to be unemployed, to accept unpaid work and to be subject to exploitative working conditions such as unpaid salaries and precarious contracts;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Urges the Commission and the Member States to recognise the fundamental role of culture for society, the well-being of EU citizens and the economyintrinsic value of culture, as well as the fundamental role of culture for society, its progress and our well-being, the economy and inclusiveness, and to translate this recognition into adequate and continuous financial and structural support;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to recognise the European added value of cross-border cooperation and to eliminate all barriers to sustainable and inclusive cross-border mobility in the EU, and with third countries for artists and cultural professionals;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to providesupport and provide authors, performers, other creative professionals and workers in the CCSI with clear information and guidelines on mobility opportunities and review and where necessary revise administrative requirements in all Member States, including on visas, taxation, social security and access to training; and recognition of artistic education degrees, VET and academic, with a view on simplifying and unifying access to all aforementioned, as well on Union programmes and funds that can serve their needs, such as Creative Europe, but also those not directly or specifically targeted at the CCSI; calls for specific programmes dedicated to the mobility of young creators and innovators to promote exchanges and innovation in the fields of culture and creativity;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the establishment of mobility information points to provide assistance to artists and recommends thatcultural professionals and support sustainable mobility; calls on all Member States to establish oneat least one such mobility and information point to offer free and tailored support to artists and cultural and creative workers; recommends the Commission to provide consistent and more comprehensive information targeted to cultural cross-border workers as well as authors, performers and creators, on mobility through initiatives such as updated toolkits and handbooks;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Encourages greater synergy between the cultural and educational sector and promotes greater participation of artistic and cultural schools and institutions in activities under Erasmus+, and in other actions under EU programmes, both for students and teachers; calls on the Member States to fully include and promote access to art education, VET and academic, as part of a holistic approach for the CCSI recovery and society as a whole; notes the importance of providing access to lifelong learning, upskilling and reskilling and training through, among others, mentoring programmes, as well as the development of EU-wide training material for the transition from education to cultural and creative employment;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States to transpose Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the digital single market with a strong focus on protection of cultural and creative works and those creating them, and, in particular, to guarantee fair, appropriate and proportionate remuneration for authors and performers; calls on the Commission to closely monitor effective implementation of these key principles;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Highlights that the current pandemic has underlined the importance of the digital sphere and amplified the dependency of artists and users on dominant digital platforms; in this regard highlights the need for more transparency; recalls that for some artists and creators who were mainly dependent on public events, this change in economic paradigm represents a challenge in terms of stability of revenue; is worried about the fact that many artists and creators cannot ensure in this new business model the same amount of revenue as the practice of imposing buy-out clauses by dominant or large streaming platforms deprive authors or their royalties and hinders adequate and proportionate remuneration for creators; asks therefore the Commission to evaluate and to take measures to ensure that revenues are duly and fairly distributed to all creators, artists and right holders;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the Commission’s inception impact assessment and ongoingrecent public consultation on collective bargaining agreements, which is designed to deffor self-employed, which is examining the possibility of removineg the scompe of application of EU competition rules in order to remove obstacles and improve working condittition law obstacle to collective bargaining for self-employed and freelancers; urges in this regard that the Commission take the broadest possible approach, in order to ensure access to collective bargaining for all solo-self- employed, including artists and cultural workers; invites the Commissions through collective bargaining on behalf of solo self-employed workers in the CCSIo further evaluate current state aid rules and their application for the CCSI and the possible needs for adaptation; calls on Member States to acknowledge the right of association for all workers in the CCSI and promote collective bargaining;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. UPoints out that atypical employment (part-time and fixed-duration contracts, temporary work and economically dependent self-employment) is commonplace in the media and culture sector, often leading to precarious working situations for artists and cultural professionals; underlines the urgent need to improve the working conditions in the CCSI; encourages the Member States to utilise upward convergence to establish minimum standards for artists and cultural workerprofessionals in relation to working conditions and social secur, fair remuneration and social security while recognizing the special characteristics of the CCSI such as seasonal work and the non-monetized quality of creativity;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recommends the creation of a European framework for working conditions in the CCSI; welcomes, in this regard, the forthcoming OMC discussions between the Member States on the status of artists; Calls on the Commission to propose a European Status of the Artist setting out a common framework for working conditions and a minimum standards common to all EU countries while fully respecting the responsibilities of Member States and the EU in regards to labour market and cultural policy, through the adoption or application of a number of coherent and comprehensive guidelines with respect, but not exclusively, to contracts, means of collective representation and management, social security, sickness and unemployment insurance, pension schemes , direct and indirect taxation, non-tariff barriers and information asymmetries; welcomes, in this regard, the forthcoming OMC discussions between the Member States on the status of artists as a first step; calls for the establishment of a working group in the framework of the OMC to facilitate best practice sharing between Member States as well as to facilitate the monitoring of progress in relation to the amelioration of the conditions of artists;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges theall Member States to fulfil their obligation to defend and respectresponsibility and obligation to foster and defend artistic freedom in order to uphold the fundamental right to freedom of expression and to ensure that EU citizens can freely enjoy and consume artistic creations and participate in culture and urges the Commission to sanction those Member States that fail to comply their obligations; invites the European Commission to develop further research on the topic and prepare a roadmap for achieving better protection of freedom of artistic expression in Europe; calls upon the Member States to jointly establish a structured dialogue amongst artists, legal experts and relevant stakeholders to determine common standards for freedom of artistic expression and develop and implement relevant guidelines;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Member States to reconsiderensure full access to basic social protection for artists and cultural workers, regardless of their employment status, and including access to unemployment allowance, health care and pensions; urges Member States and the Commission to take specific measures for the different categories of the creative professions to tackle unstable income, unpaid work and job insecurity and safeguard a total minimum standard for their income;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Calls on Member States to take due account of the unique situation of artists from marginalised groups in the development of all relevant policies, funding programmes and activities and to remove all obstacles for achieving gender equality in the sector, namely by introducing measures which enable equal access, participations and representation of all cultural workers and artists;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to eincourage and promote private investment in the CCSIrease their support to the CCSI through strengthening the public investment and encouraging private investment in the CCSI as well as public- private partnerships; calls on the Member States to ensure easier access to finance for artists and all cultural creators;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate access to public grants and loans by reducing administrative burdens at all stages of the application and reporting processes; and ensure transparency; emphasises the necessity to promote synergies between all relevant EU funding schemes with specific amounts dedicated to the cultural and creative sector, like Horizon Europe, Creative Europe, InvestEU, Digital Europe, the Cohesion Policy Funds and the RRF to be exploited in order to better support artists and cultural workers and provide new, accessible and where possible regular funding streams;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. RStresses the importance of directing an adequate part of economic recovery measures to the CCSI; reiterates its call on the Commission and the Member States to include culture in the national recovery and resilience plans and to earmark at least 2 % of the budget envelope of the Recovery and Resilience Facility to culture with concrete, inclusive and accessible to all measures, leaving no one behind; is alarmed that in some Member States submitted plans appear to earmark a lower percentage or lacks of dedicated funding at all to those sectors; calls on the Commission to publish data on amounts and purpose of funds earmarked in the Plans to ensure transparency and facilitate democratic oversight;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. CHighlights that the CCSI are the first sectors and most severely hit by the pandemic and the last to recover, while given the restrictions in capacity of cultural events and venues, the recovery for the CCSI is expected to be even slower; underlines that the recovery of CCSI must go hand-in-hand with transition towards sustainability of the sector; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the short-term recovery of the CCSIwhole cultural ecosystem and to bolster the resilience and, competitiveness of these industries in the long termand innovation of the CCSI in the long term, and to reinforce these sectors by providing fair and structured support to all, especially the most vulnerable actors, and foster employment opportunities for artists, authors, performers, cultural workers and cultural mediation professionals by supporting cooperation across disciplinary domains, as well as to ensure comprehensive monitoring of the socio- economic situation in the CCSI with the help of the European Framework for working conditions, in order to tackle any major crises as effectively as possible in the future and accompany their digital and green transition;
Amendment 48 #
H. whereas the ongoing impact of the pandemic has made it impossible for cultural and creative workers to carry out their jobs and generated uncertainty over future prospects that could cause professionals to leave the sector, which will have a long-lasting effect on the composition of the European CCSI as a whole and discourage young people from working in these industries and decrease creativity of the European society and economy as a whole.;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)
Recital J a (new)
J a. whereas several definitions of artists and cultural workers coexist in the EU making potential harmonisation challenging,
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)
Recital M a (new)
M a. Whereas authors, performers and all cultural creators should have access to guaranteed minimum standards of social security, including employment and health insurance and pension funds, so that they can concentrate fully on their artistic process and creativity
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S a (new)
Recital S a (new)
S a. whereas although the participation of women in the cultural and creative sectors is high, there is still much gender based discrimination and they rarely occupy decision-making positions in cultural institutions,
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S b (new)
Recital S b (new)
S b. Whereas culture, arts, cultural heritage, and cultural diversity are of great value to European society from a cultural, educational, democratic, environmental, social, human rights and economic point of view and should be promoted and supported. Whereas Education and culture are key to building inclusive and cohesive societies for all, fostering integration, and sustaining European competitiveness;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Urges the Commission and the Member States to recognise the fundamental role of culture for society, the well-being of EU citizens and the economy and inclusiveness, and to translate this recognition into financial and structural support;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. calls on the Commission to provide clear information for artists on mobility issues related to the EU-UK relations
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. encourages Member States to allow cultural and creative professionals tax deduction of business expenses in relation to their artistic activity as well as costs concerning equipment or training (upskilling and reskilling);
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. underlines the need for detailed gender-disaggregated, comparable data and statistics on cultural employment and income in CCSI,
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 d (new)
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4 d. Encourages greater synergy between the cultural and educational sector and promotes greater participation of artistic and cultural schools and institutions in activities under Erasmus+, and in other actions under EU programmes, both for students and teachers;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Urges the Commission to effectively implement gender equality, inclusion and integration initiatives in culture and audiovisual fields through the Creative Europe Programme and to monitor the results;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. strongly condemns stereotypes, sexism and sexual harassment in the CCSI;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Welcomes the initiatives of some Member States to encourage gender equality in the selection process for higher positions in public cultural institutions
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5 d. Recognises the crucial role of culture and arts in promoting cultural diversity and fostering inclusive societies and the fight against any kind of discrimination;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Calls on Member States and the Commission to support vocational training programmes and initiatives for the career development of all authors, performers and cultural creators, and in particular to support them in acquiring digital, entrepreneurial and other skills in order benefit from digital opportunities to promote their work and collaborate with other artists;
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. CUnderlines that the recovery of CCSI must go hand-in-hand with transition towards sustainability of the sector; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the short-term recovery of the CCSI and to bolster the resilience and competitiveness of these industries in the long term in order to tackle any major crises as effectively as possible in the future and accompany their digital and ecological transition;
Amendment 256 #
15 a. underlines the importance of remuneration for of authors and performers online and offline, specifically through the promotion of collective bargaining;
Amendment 260 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15 b. Welcomes that during the crisis many cultural ecosystems of workers and organisations adapted to new digital distribution formats showing innovative ways of reaching their audience, nevertheless, digital engagement should not replace cultural experiences in person;