PURPOSE: to establish an audiovisual cooperation programme with professionals from third countries (MEDIA Mundus) for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision No 1041/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of establishing an audiovisual cooperation programme with professionals from third countries (MEDIA Mundus).

CONTENT: following an agreement reached in first reading, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a decision establishing the MEDIA Mundus programme. The programme, which has a budget of EUR 15 million for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013 will fund international cooperation projects in the audiovisual sector.

Objective of the programme: the aims of the MEDIA Mundus programme are to increase the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry, to enable Europe to play its cultural and political role in the world more effectively and to increase consumer choice and cultural diversity. The programme will seek to improve access to third-country markets and to build trust and long-term working relationships.

Specific objectives of the programme: the programme also has three specific objectives which may be summarised as follows:

1) Specific Objective 1 : information exchange, training and market intelligence: in the field of information exchange and training, the operational objective of the programme shall be to strengthen the skills of European and third-country professionals, notably by: i) improving professionals’ understanding, in particular, of the operating conditions, legal frameworks (including in the area of intellectual property rights), financing systems and cooperation possibilities of their respective audiovisual markets; ii) securing and facilitating audiovisual cooperation between professionals by improving their level of knowledge of audiovisual markets; iii) facilitating networking and the emergence of long-term working relationships, in particular through scholarships; or iv) supporting initial and continuous professional training;

2) Specific Objective 2 : competitiveness and distribution: the operational objectives of the programme shall be to i) facilitate the search for third-country partners for European works (in particular, with a view to supporting the organisation of coproduction markets, ...); ii) encourage international sales and promotion of European works in third-country markets and of audiovisual works from third countries in Europe;

3) Specific Objective 3 : circulation: to improve the circulation and visibility of European works in third countries via the following actions: i) encourage cinema operators in European and third countries to reciprocally increase the programming and exhibition conditions of exclusive first releases of audiovisual works; ii) increase the supply of audiovisual content and improve broadcasting and distribution conditions for audiovisual works from third countries on European distribution channels and for European works through international distribution channels; iii) facilitate the organisation of events and film literacy initiatives, notably aimed at young audiences.

The annex to the decision outlines the types of action to be implemented under each objective.

Scope of the programme : the programme is targeted at European and third-country professionals in the audiovisual sector.

Conditions for participation in the programme : in order to be eligible for funding under the programme, projects shall be proposed and implemented jointly by European and third-country professionals. Each project shall have a minimum of three partners. However, projects with only two partners may be admitted where the necessary networking is guaranteed. Each project shall be coordinated by a European professional and shall include at least one partner from a third country.

Financial arrangements : financial aid may take the form of grants (reimbursable in respect of the programme’s contribution, excluding support for dubbing/subtitling) or scholarships. Depending on the nature of the activity, flat-rate financing or the use of scales of unit costs may be authorised. In any event, funding under the programme may not exceed 50% of the final costs of the project to be funded. However, under certain exceptional circumstances, funding may be as high as 80%. In-kind contributions of the beneficiaries may also be envisaged.

Implementation of the programme : the Commission is responsible for implementing the programme, in accordance with the provisions laid down in the annex of the decision. In accordance with the management committee procedure the Commission shall draw up i) an annual plan of work, including priorities, ii) an annual internal breakdown of the programme resources, including the breakdown between measures in the different fields, iii) the general guidelines for implementing the programme, iv) the content of the calls for proposals, the definition of the criteria and the procedures for the selection of projects.

Upon Parliament’s request and under the terms of the compromise reached in first reading, the management committee procedure will also apply for the selection of proposals for the allocation of Community funds in excess of:

EUR 200 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 1, EUR 300 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 2, EUR 300 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 3.

Contribution of the programme to other Community policies and principles : MEDIA Mundus shall help to strengthen the Community’s horizontal policies and principles (e.g. by contributing to the debate on, and information about the Union as an area of peace, prosperity and security, promoting the fundamental principle of freedom of expression and encouraging awareness of the importance of cultural diversity, common values, intercultural dialogue and multilingualism in the world...).

Monitoring and evaluation : the Commission shall monitor the projects regularly. It shall present a series of reports to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions (a communication on the possible continuation of the programme by 31 January 2012, and an ex post evaluation report by 31 December 2015).

ENTRY INTO FORCE: the decision enters into force on 24.11.2009. It is applicable from 1 January 2011.

The European Parliament adopted by 484 votes to 16, with 25 abstentions, a legislative resolution modifying, under the first reading of the codecision procedure, the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an audiovisual cooperation programme with professionals from third countries MEDIA Mundus.

The amendments are the result of a compromise negotiated with the Council.

The main amendments are as follows:

Aims of the proposal : in order to increase clarity, this Decision establishes the programme MEDIA Mundus for the funding of projects for international cooperation in the audiovisual sector for a period from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013 with a view to increasing the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry, enabling Europe to play its cultural and political role in the world more effectively and increasing consumer choice and cultural diversity. The programme will also seek to improve access to third country markets and to build trust and long-term working relationships.

Specific objectives : changes have been made to the wording of the objectives of the programme:

Objective 1 (information exchange, training and market intelligence) is to strengthen the skills of European and third country professionals , notably by: (i) improving professionals' understanding in particular of the operating conditions, legal frameworks, (including in the area of intellectual property rights) and financing systems; (ii) improving the level of knowledge of audiovisual markets; (iii) facilitating networking and the emergence of long-term working relationships, in particular through scholarships; (iv) supporting initial and continuous professional training; Objective 2 (competitiveness and distribution) is to improve the competitiveness of the European audiovisual industry and the distribution of European works outside Europe and those of third countries within Europe; Objective 3 (circulation) is to improve circulation and visibility of European works in third countries and those of third countries within Europe and to increase public (in particular young public) demand for culturally diverse audiovisual content.

Scope of the programme : the programme is addressed to European professionals and third country professionals. The definitions of these professional have also been clarified in order to identify clearly the potential participants in the programme.

Conditions for participation in the programme : each project shall seek to promote an international networking . To this end, each project shall have a minimum of three partners . However, projects with only two partners may be admitted where the necessary networking is guaranteed.

Comitology : contrary to the approach proposed by the Commission, according to which measures to be taken in accordance with the management procedure concern the selection of proposals in excess of EUR 400 000 per beneficiary and year, the Parliament calls for the procedure to apply respectively for proposals in excess of the following amounts per specific objective:

EUR 200 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 1; EUR 300 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 2; EUR 300 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 3.

All other selection decisions shall be adopted by the Commission (under its own terms), providing the European Parliament with information.

Multilingualism : in relation to the horizontal policies that the programme will help to strengthen, the Parliament adds encouraging awareness of common values and multilingualism in the world.

Consistency and complementarity : the Commission shall pay particular attention to consistency and complementarity between the programme and other relevant Community policies, instruments and actions, in particular coordination with and implementation of the MEDIA 2007 programme and external cooperation programmes in the audiovisual and cultural sectors with third countries.

Report : MEPs call on the Commission to present a Communication on the possible continuation of the programme by 31 January 2012 at the latest, instead of by 30 June 2012.

Annexes : some modifications were also made to the annex to the proposal in terms of its composition and clarity.

The Committee on Culture and Education adopted the report drawn up by Ruth HIERONYMI (EPP-ED, DE) amending, under the first reading of the codecision procedure, the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an audiovisual cooperation programme with professionals from third countries MEDIA Mundus.

The main amendments are as follows:

Improving the coherence and clarity of the proposal : with a view to increasing the clarity of the proposal, MEPs modified the overall structure in order to indicate more clearly the general objectives of the programme (which remain the same as in the initial proposal). They also modify the wording and presentation of the “specific objectives” of the programme. These are included in chapter 2 of the proposal and take the form of three specific objectives: (i) information exchange, training and market intelligence; (ii) competitiveness and distribution; (iii) circulation. Also in the interest of general coherence, MEPs modified the composition of the proposal, merging the article dealing with the implementation of the operational objectives with the article on the implementation of the decision.

Copyright : under the first objective of the programme (information exchange, training and market intelligence), MEPs call for measures to strengthen the skills of European and other professionals from third countries to improve their understanding of the operating conditions, legal frameworks and copyright of their respective audiovisual markets.

Comitology : contrary to the approach proposed by the Commission, according to which measures to be taken in accordance with the management procedure concern the selection of proposals in excess of EUR 400 000 per beneficiary and year, MEPs call for the procedure to apply respectively for proposals in excess of the following amounts per specific objective:

EUR 200 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 1; EUR 300 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 2; EUR 300 000 per beneficiary per year, in the case of specific objective 3.

All other selection decisions shall be adopted by the Commission (under its own terms), providing the European Parliament with information.

Multilingualism : in relation to the horizontal policies that the programme will help to strengthen, MEPs add encouraging awareness of common values and multilingualism in the world.

Report : MEPs call on the Commission to present a Communication on the continuation of the programme by 31 January 2012 at the latest, instead of by 30 June 2012.

Annexes : some modifications were also made to the annex to the proposal in terms of its composition and clarity.

PURPOSE: to establish a programme MEDIA Mundus to fund projects for international cooperation with professionals in third countries in the audiovisual sector.

PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.

BACKGROUND: t he international audiovisual landscape has changed significantly over the last 2 decades, notably from the impact of technological developments. New players and platforms have emerged, boosting or requiring more content production, notably for emerging markets where growth is extremely promising. However, structural weaknesses affecting the circulation of European audiovisual works on third country markets prevent the European audiovisual industry from benefiting fully from this new expansion of international opportunities and threaten the competitiveness of this industry.

The European Parliament adopted, on 13 December 2007, a preparatory action called MEDIA International, focusing on developing EU relations with third-country audiovisual markets. The subsequent call for proposals was successful, attracting strong interest from the industry. 18 projects were selected. Parliament is currently renewing the preparatory action for 2009 with an increased budget. Ministers responsible for audiovisual matters in the EU met informally in Cannes on 19 May 2008, and adopted a declaration welcoming the European Parliament’s initiative on the MEDIA International preparatory action.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the impact assessment considered 3 options: taking no action; the extension of existing instruments Euromed Audiovisual II, the EU-ACP programme for Cinema, and MEDIA 2007; and the creation of a new instrument MEDIA Mundus. The Commission concluded that the creation of a new instrument would be the most effective way to meet the general and specific objectives and to respond to the challenges arising from the internationalisation of audiovisual markets.

CONTENT: the proposal is to set up a new programme called MEDIA Mundus. The 3 general policy objectives of the programme are:

to increase the competitiveness of the EU audiovisual industry on international markets; to enable Europe to play its cultural and political role in the world; to increase consumer choice and cultural diversity.

These objectives can be detailed in 3 specific objectives:

to increase information exchange, training and market intelligence; to improve the competitiveness and transnational distribution of audiovisual works worldwide; to improve circulation and exposure of audiovisual works worldwide and to increase public (in particular young public) demand for cultural diversity.

Following the principle of mutual benefit , professionals from countries participating in the programme and from other countries would jointly propose and implement projects under the proposed action lines. Funding would be available for consortia only , and under three basic premises: (1) any group/consortium which submits a project needs to be owned, whether directly or by majority participation, by EU nationals ; (2) any group/consortium should include at least one audiovisual company/organisation which has its head office in a third country ; (3) each project needs to have a minimum of 3 partners and shall significantly boost an international networking effect.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: the total budget for the actions (2011-2013) amounts to EUR 13.5 million:

information exchange, training and market intelligence (specific objective 1): EUR 2.7 million; competitiveness and distribution: (specific objective 2) EUR 5.1 million, circulation (specific objective 3): EUR 5.7 million.

The overall budget for actions and for implementing this programme amounts to EUR 15 million.

PURPOSE: to establish a programme MEDIA Mundus to fund projects for international cooperation with professionals in third countries in the audiovisual sector.

PROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.

BACKGROUND: t he international audiovisual landscape has changed significantly over the last 2 decades, notably from the impact of technological developments. New players and platforms have emerged, boosting or requiring more content production, notably for emerging markets where growth is extremely promising. However, structural weaknesses affecting the circulation of European audiovisual works on third country markets prevent the European audiovisual industry from benefiting fully from this new expansion of international opportunities and threaten the competitiveness of this industry.

The European Parliament adopted, on 13 December 2007, a preparatory action called MEDIA International, focusing on developing EU relations with third-country audiovisual markets. The subsequent call for proposals was successful, attracting strong interest from the industry. 18 projects were selected. Parliament is currently renewing the preparatory action for 2009 with an increased budget. Ministers responsible for audiovisual matters in the EU met informally in Cannes on 19 May 2008, and adopted a declaration welcoming the European Parliament’s initiative on the MEDIA International preparatory action.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the impact assessment considered 3 options: taking no action; the extension of existing instruments Euromed Audiovisual II, the EU-ACP programme for Cinema, and MEDIA 2007; and the creation of a new instrument MEDIA Mundus. The Commission concluded that the creation of a new instrument would be the most effective way to meet the general and specific objectives and to respond to the challenges arising from the internationalisation of audiovisual markets.

CONTENT: the proposal is to set up a new programme called MEDIA Mundus. The 3 general policy objectives of the programme are:

to increase the competitiveness of the EU audiovisual industry on international markets; to enable Europe to play its cultural and political role in the world; to increase consumer choice and cultural diversity.

These objectives can be detailed in 3 specific objectives:

to increase information exchange, training and market intelligence; to improve the competitiveness and transnational distribution of audiovisual works worldwide; to improve circulation and exposure of audiovisual works worldwide and to increase public (in particular young public) demand for cultural diversity.

Following the principle of mutual benefit , professionals from countries participating in the programme and from other countries would jointly propose and implement projects under the proposed action lines. Funding would be available for consortia only , and under three basic premises: (1) any group/consortium which submits a project needs to be owned, whether directly or by majority participation, by EU nationals ; (2) any group/consortium should include at least one audiovisual company/organisation which has its head office in a third country ; (3) each project needs to have a minimum of 3 partners and shall significantly boost an international networking effect.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: the total budget for the actions (2011-2013) amounts to EUR 13.5 million:

information exchange, training and market intelligence (specific objective 1): EUR 2.7 million; competitiveness and distribution: (specific objective 2) EUR 5.1 million, circulation (specific objective 3): EUR 5.7 million.

The overall budget for actions and for implementing this programme amounts to EUR 15 million.