Single Market and Relevant Policies

Culture – Audiovisual Policy -Sport

Culture – Audiovisual Policy

The E.U. has adopted the principle of subsidiarity with the Member States in the cultural sector, recognizing the intrinsic importance in shaping of both national and European identity, its role in the management of the economic crisis and its contribution to development, job creation and social cohesion. Furthermore, the E.U. believes in the dynamics of cultural relations to strengthen EU external relations and promote intercultural dialogue, and the Global Strategy on the EU's Foreign and Security Policy highlights the role of cultural diplomacy. In this context, the Joint Statement by the European Parliament and the Council "Towards an EU Strategy for International Cultural Relations" is a major development in the field of European external relations. The purpose of the Strategy is twofold: a) to promote international cultural relations of the E.U. through support and development assistance to third countries, and b) to formalize and render effective E.U.’s cultural diplomacy in order to promote the visibility of EU cultural identity and that of the Member States, with the help mostly of the Network of European Institutes for Culture - EUNIC. The planned actions will deal with the relationship between culture and development, the influence of culture on social inclusion and addressing radicalization and the protection of cultural heritage. In this context, the year 2018 was declared "European Year of Cultural Heritage".

The Network of European Institutes for Culture – EUNIC which, in recent years, implemented actions to promote EU cultural relations with third countries and among Member States, is in the process of forming its relations with the E.U. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs participates in the Network as a full member, alongside the Greek Foundation for Culture and several Greek Embassies are members of the Network Clusters around the world. In particular, Athens Cluster adopted a 3-year strategy for the integration of immigrants and refugees through culture on our proposal and is in the process of implementing relevant actions (information on the Network's activities, see http://www.eunicapp.eu/).

The culture and media program "Creative Europe 2014-2020» (http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/) is rewarding performance and excellence and supports culture and cultural heritage, in order to promote their contribution to the implementation of the Strategy for Growth “Europe 2020”. Moreover, synergies of the cultural and creative sector with other sectors are expected to promote innovation, economic sustainability and social inclusion. The emphasis remains on digitization of cultural and cinematographic heritage, enhancing its protection and maintenance, as well as ensuring EU's cultural diversity. In the film sector, in particular, the E.U. is interested to facilitate broadcasting of European works and copyright protection. To counter radicalization, the newly modified Work Plan for Culture 2015-2018, highlights the priority of intercultural dialogue. The destruction of cultural heritage and illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts of countries at war have also preoccupied the EU (illicit trafficking, see http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32014L0060&from=EN).

The Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which was adopted in 2010, created the regulatory framework of audiovisual services in the European Union. The Directive creates a level-playing field for audiovisual media services across borders, while maintaining high consumer protection standards and strengthens European cultural diversity. It ensures that rules on the protection of minors and against incitement to hatred, based on race, sex, religion or nationality, apply to all audiovisual services (broadcast on fixed, mobile or satellite networks, including on-demand). The Programme «Creative Europe 2014-2020», supports the development and distribution of European audiovisual productions and aspires to strengthen the audiovisual sector economically to enable it to play its cultural role more effectively. Information on financing opportunities of the audiovisual and multimedia sector, under the Creative Europe Programme is available on the website: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/.

Sport

EU involvement in sport refers to social issues (public health, doping, physical activity, volunteering, violence, gender, etc.), the economic sector (impact on the economy, sustainable funding, state aid, sports and media etc.) and management (governance, rigged games, free movement of athletes, international cooperation, etc.). Emphasis is placed on synergies between education and the various sectors of amateur sports to combat childhood obesity and improve educational outcomes, as well as, the development of young people’s skills through informal learning which will be useful, inter alia, to the labor market and lifelong learning. Furthermore, the EU has prioritized strengthening integrity in sport by developing actions to combat the manipulation of sports’ results and phenomena of illegality, violence and discrimination.

The program “Erasmus+” aims to support actions for the development of innovative ideas and practices at European, national, regional and local level, as well as actions that will promote the European dimension in sport and the cooperation between sport organizations (http://ec.europa.eu/sport/opportunities/sport_funding/index_en.htm). The Council adopted conclusions “on the promotion of motor skills, physical and sport activities for children”. It has also dealt with the educational potential of sports in the social integration disadvantaged youth and, in particular, immigrants and refugees.