Skip to content

EU leaders sign ambitious Joint Declaration on Culture

EU institutions have signed the Joint Declaration on culture, agreeing a long-term strategic vision for culture at the heart of Europe.

The Council’s MFF budget proposal: bad news for AgoraEU

The Council has unveiled its proposed budget allocations for the next long-term EU budget and it’s bad news: a 33% reduction in budget for AgoraEU compared to the Parliament’s position.

Reading between the strands: AgoraEU after Parliament and Council

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.

Culture is being erased from EU research and innovation funding. How do we save it?

A coalition of cultural networks started the ‘Name, Place, Fund’ campaign to secure the presence of culture for research, innovation and competitiveness in the 2028-2034 budget.

European leaders Roberta Metsola, Nikos Christodoulides, and Ursula von der Leyen stand side-by-side smiling while jointly holding a dark blue document folder embossed with the European Union stars. They are formally dressed and positioned in front of a backdrop featuring several large European Union flags.
An elevated, high-angle view of the image shows a large, circular conference hall with wooden flooring and multiple tiers of seating where numerous people are seated at desks equipped with monitors. A giant, ring-shaped light fixture hangs from the concentric wooden ceiling directly over the center of the room. Digital display screens are mounted on the upper wooden walls, overlooking the formal meeting of the European Council.
Abstract, glowing ring of light with radiating orange, blue, and yellow streaks against a black background.
An elevated, high-angle view of the image shows a large, circular conference hall with wooden flooring and multiple tiers of seating where numerous people are seated at desks equipped with monitors. A giant, ring-shaped light fixture hangs from the concentric wooden ceiling directly over the center of the room. Digital display screens are mounted on the upper wooden walls, overlooking the formal meeting of the European Council.

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.

An image with a bright yellow background features the bold text "POLICY PILL: WHAT'S NEW WITH AGORAEU, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?" with "POLICY PILL:" highlighted on a light pink rectangle. In the top left corner, a purple square displays the text "ASK PAY TRUST" in yellow, while the top right corner includes a small logo that reads "Powered by: Alliance for Socially Engaged Arts."

As the trialogue approaches, 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.