Speak up for your amendments (and for socially engaged arts)!
The winter holidays brought a bit of magic to the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) negotiations with some welcome news: the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (BUDG) released a draft interim report outlining amendments to the Commission’s MFF proposal — including a significant proposed €880 million increase for the new AgoraEU programme, which we warmly welcome. This is still a proposal, but we hope it will be supported by the Parliament during the plenary vote on the report in May 2026.
Let’s take a step back: in July 2025, the European Commission presented its proposal for the MFF 2028–2034, the EU’s long‑term budget that will guide EU spending over the next seven years. Among the new funding instruments is AgoraEU, a unified programme bringing together what is today Creative Europe and CERV (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values), organised around three strands: Culture, Media+, and CERV+.
- Creative Europe – Culture: €1.796 billion
- MEDIA+: €3.194 billion
- CERV+: €3.593 billion
If the Parliament’s proposed €880 million increase is adopted, this is still far from the long‑advocated 2 % of the EU budget for culture target, but it reflects a significant willingness to prioritise culture, media, democracy and civic engagement at EU level, with an approach that goes beyond traditional silos.
It is important to note that this is not only about dedicated culture funding. The broader design of the MFF — including the new European Competitiveness Fund and an expanded Horizon Europe — could provide opportunities for culture to be mainstreamed across EU priorities such as research, innovation, inclusion, sustainability and democratic engagement. Unfortunately, this mainstreaming does not visibly appear in the European Commission’s proposal, as culture-dedicated strands are absent from the current proposals for both the above-mentioned programmes.
Why this matters for socially engaged arts
There is growing evidence that culture is not a stand‑alone sector; it is a transversal asset that contributes to many of the EU’s strategic goals, particularly in its socially engaged and participatory forms. Practices rooted in socially engaged arts address a wide range of societal challenges, from human rights and social inclusion to environmental sustainability and democratic resilience. These practices create spaces for dialogue, collective reflection and civic action, demonstrating how cultural engagement can deepen community ties and strengthen democratic values in ways that stretch beyond traditional cultural programming.
This makes it more relevant to advocate for a stronger place for socially engaged arts within EU funding instruments, both within AgoraEU and in mainstream programmes such as Horizon Europe.
In this spirit, Culture Action Europe’s detailed position on the MFF includes a recommendation to ensure that Horizon Europe’s Part II ‘Society’ strand genuinely covers culture‑related research and practice. We proposed making this explicit in the legal base of the next Horizon Europe programme (amendments in bold):
‘The Programme shall support activities to tackle global societal challenges in the areas of strengthening democratic values and tackling disinformation, including rule of law and fundamental rights; upholding the social and democratic role of culture and the cultural and creative sectors, and safeguarding cultural heritage; promoting socio-economic transformations that contribute to inclusion and growth, addressing demographic and intergenerational challenges, including from a youth perspective and including migration management and integration of migrants.’
A flagship programme like AgoraEU, which embeds culture, media and civic values in a unified framework, needs clear language that supports culture as a driver of democratic participation, social cohesion, community building and the rule of law. To achieve this, CAE proposes:
- Amending point (b) under Article 4 to explicitly include:
‘improving access to and participation in culture and cultural heritage for all, notably young people, and strengthening social resilience and social cohesion, in particular intergenerational fairness, equality and diversity, through cultural engagement and the support of socially engaged arts;’
- Adding a new point (d) under Article 9:
‘supporting cultural participation and the creation of diverse and inclusive creative content as a means of community building, fostering social cohesion, and upholding democratic values and civic engagement.’
These amendments would help ensure that socially engaged arts are recognised not only as cultural activities, but as essential mechanisms for building inclusive, resilient and democratic societies. Culture Action Europe has already shared its proposed amendments with Members of the European Parliament working on the MFF-related files.
What’s next and how to act
The interim report is scheduled for adoption in the BUDG Committee on 8–9 April 2026, and a plenary vote in the European Parliament is expected in May 2026. You can submit your own amendments to the BUDG report by 29 January 2026. Key Members of the European Parliament to engage include Siegfried Mureşan (EPP, Romania) and Carla Tavares (S&D, Portugal).
For the full list of amendments proposed by Culture Action Europe, read our detailed position on the MFF here.