Ahead of the next EU Work Plan for Culture, Culture Action Europe has developed a set of recommendations for the Council of the EU, shaped by discussions from the BEYOND Satellites 2026.
Culture Action Europe has joined a coalition of over 100 cultural organisations, networks, and institutions from across Europe in signing an open letter addressed to EU policymakers calling for a stronger budget for the Culture strand in AgoraEU as part of the next long-term EU budget.
Culture Action Europe prepared recommendations for the Work Plan for Culture 2027-2030 based on extensive, decentralised consultations with its members.
Over the past months, we’ve talked a lot about the European Commission’s work on the Culture Compass and the European Parliament’s efforts to influence the current funding proposals. With negotiations on the next long-term EU budget gathering pace, both institutions are busy trying to shape what comes next for culture. But there is a third player in the room that we cannot afford to overlook: the Council of the EU and its upcoming Work Plan for Culture.
The Council has unveiled its proposed budget allocations for the 2028-2034 MFF and it’s bad news for culture, including a 33% reduction in budget for AgoraEU compared to the Parliament’s position. It is vital that the European Parliament’s budgetary proposal of €10.72 billion is treated as the bare minimum in negotiations in order to sustain the cultural and creative sectors.
The NamePlaceFund campaign coordinators have sent an open letter to the Irish Presidency of the Council calling for a vision of research, innovation and competitiveness in the next MFF that fully embeds the arts and the CCSI to address the challenges of the future.
Culture Action Europe calls for an AgoraEU that covers all cultural and creative sectors fairly, protects the cross-sectoral nature of European cultural cooperation, and provides more ambitious funding for culture as a whole. Where sectors have specific needs, they must be addressed consistently, not selectively, across various sectors.
As the trilogues approach, the European Parliament is consolidating its positions on key funding programmes shaping the next MFF. Among them, AgoraEU stands out as a central framework for supporting culture and socially impactful projects, raising questions about what’s new and why it matters.