AgoraEU Creative Europe – Culture strand Stakeholder Consultation

The current AgoraEU proposal allocates €260 million per year to the Culture strand. That’s the same as the annual expenditure of the Bibliothèque nationale de France!

Culture Action Europe contributed to the European Parliament’s stakeholder consultation on the AgoraEU proposal (Creative Europe – Culture strand) on Wednesday 4 March 2026. Our Head of Policy, Luiza Moroz, outlined Culture Action Europe’s position on the programme and highlighted several ways to strengthen the current proposal:

💰 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭: We need a larger budget. The CULT Committee proposed €12 billion for AgoraEU – we suggest that this amount be topped up with digital fines imposed on big tech under the DSA, DMA, and AI Act.

🏗️ 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: Earmarking is needed across programme strands. We call for the Creative Europe – Culture strand to receive a minimum of 25% of the total programme budget.

💎 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬: AgoraEU should include an annex with clear funding lines, such as cooperation projects, networks, cascading grants, artist mobility, the European Capitals of Culture, the European Heritage Label, etc. A dedicated funding scheme to protect artistic freedom and support artists at risk should also be established. The annex should also restore a strong sectoral approach, covering existing sectors (music, books, architecture, heritage) and also visual arts, performing arts, design and crafts.

⚖️ 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Meaningful social conditionality should be ensured in the programme. Funding should require compliance with the upcoming EU Artists Charter to guarantee fair pay and social security for cultural workers.

💯 𝐂𝐨-𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠. Creative Europe – Culture strand should allow for a 100% co-financing rate (now 60-80% for cooperation projects), as is currently possible under other programmes such as Horizon Europe for certain action types.

🪑 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐤 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: Funding of Creative Europe Desks and CERV contact points needs to be clarified. Programme Desks should be funded by the strand(s) they support. If a Desk supports more than one strand, like Culture and Media, the cost should be divided between those strands proportionally to their earmarked allocations.

🤝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲: The Programme Committee should be reinstated in the AgoraEU legal basis.

🇪🇺 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: Culture strand beneficiaries should be required to use a dedicated strand logo in their communications to strengthen the visibility of the Creative Europe – Culture strand.

We are grateful to MEP Emma Rafowicz for chairing the session, as well as all to organisations who contributed to the lively discussion. At Culture Action Europe, we continue to advocate for robust, well-funded opportunities for culture across EU funding instruments in the next MFF.