The COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on the European Union’s cultural, social and economic life in 2020. This Report looks at how, in this extraordinary context, Creative Europe in 2020 played its part in helping Europe’s cultural and creative ecosystem to resist, recover and look forward. The Report begins in its first chapter by highlighting the key policy initiatives taken in 2020 with the support of Creative Europe. In particular, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the European Commission held high level coordination meetings with Member States and supported the setting of up online for a, such as CreativesUnite, a platform offering a common space for the cultural and creative sectors to share initiatives in response to the crisis. In parallel the Creative Europe programme implemented flexibility measures to cater for the new and changing needs of beneficiaries. Also in 2020, political agreement was reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the European Commission’s 2018 proposal for the new Creative Europe programme. Moreover, the budget was significantly increased, by over 80% on an EU-27 basis.
