External Policy - EU policy to eastern and southern neighbours

European Neighbourhood Policy

The main goals of international cooperation in the audiovisual field in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy are:

better mutual understanding between EU countries and their neighbours
sharing views on audiovisual policy
working together to fight racism/xenophobia.

Two schemes that are an integral part of the European neighbourhood policy are the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and Euromed cultural cooperation

The Euro-Mediterranean Cultural Partnership

The EuroMed Partnership focuses on relations between Mediterranean rim countries, one aspect of which is culture, with a special emphasis on civil society.

Participants in the partnership have recognised that cultural factors are essential in bringing their peoples closer, and that the mass media can play an important role in this.

A 1997 ministerial conference under the partnership led to the establishment of guidelines for cooperation schemes, which later became the MEDA call for tender.

EuroMed cultural cooperation (item in the process of being updated)

The Euro-Mediterranean partnership develops and finances programmes in the audiovisual and cultural field through the MEDA mechanism.

There are four regional programmes:

Euromed heritage (tangible and intangible heritage)
Euromed audiovisual (archive conservation, production and distribution for radio, television and cinema)
Euromed humanities (history, literature and religion)
Med-media (training).

Plans are also in the pipeline for a regional music programme and a books and translation programme.

As confirmed by ministers in 1998, the partnership has 3 main strands:

focusing on a small number of programmes, e.g. Euromed Audiovisual
increasing civil society involvement in the activities
setting up networks of cultural operators to promote pilot-projects, knowledge-sharing and joint endeavours.

A conference in 2000 further developed the work on regulatory aspects of cooperation, and stressed the importance of defending cultural diversity for the audiovisual sector in WTO negotiations.

For more on cultural cooperation with non-EU countries and international organisations, see the European culture portal.