Cinderella or the Little Match Girl? How EU Culture Ministers See the Future of Creative Europe

On 13 May, EU culture ministers gathered in Brussels for the Culture Council to discuss, among other topics, the future of Creative Europe, the only EU programme dedicated specifically to the cultural and creative sectors. The current edition of Creative Europe runs from 2021 to 2027. However, the EU has already started planning its next long-term budget for 2028-2034, which will shape the next edition of the programme.

Back in November 2024, all 27 culture ministers signed a joint letter to the European Commission underlining the importance of Creative Europe. Since the Commission is expected to publish its first budget proposal this summer, ministers took the opportunity to reiterate their positions and set out their views on what the next chapter of the programme should look like. 

Across the board, support for Creative Europe was strong. Every minister spoke positively about the programme. Many called for a larger budget in the future. The Italian minister compared EU culture to Cinderella—in terms of money spent on it—but Cinderella had a happy ending, unlike the Little Match Girl. Culture Action Europe was glad to hear Italy’s call: ‘€100 spent on arms should mean we spend at the very least €2 on culture so we won’t hopefully use those arms.’ 

Many ministers explicitly stressed that Creative Europe should remain a standalone / targeted / separate / autonomous programme. They warned against merging it with other EU funds, a possibility that has been raised in recent months.

Several ministers called for the future programme to better reflect current European challenges, such as competitiveness, AI, security, and climate (Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Finland, Romania). The understanding of culture as a key pillar of security and defence is becoming more embedded in policy discussions. The Danish Minister said, ‘Culture is also a matter of security policy. We are being influenced by fake news […] and we must respond to that. We should strengthen our efforts to create world-class cultural productions in film, video games, music, and theatre. By doing so, we will reinforce our global standing and counter the threats we are currently facing.’

However, there were voices arguing that we shouldn’t overburden Creative Europe with too many different objectives (Germany, Austria), but rather find opportunities in other funding programmes. ‘Any extension of the programme must not undermine the key, principal objectives we have,’ said the Austrian Minister. Some ministers mentioned the value of mainstreaming culture in other EU programmes (Greece, Ireland, Estonia, Croatia, Slovenia).

Many want to see Creative Europe more flexible in the future to respond to crises. Ministers agreed that Creative Europe should be easier to access and manage, especially for smaller organisations and individual artists (Luxembourg, Malta, Finland, Austria, Czechia, Cyprus). 

There were also several concrete proposals from ministers, such as the need for:

• a more sectoral approach in Creative Europe (currently, the programme offers specific calls for music, performing arts, literature, and architecture, but the list of sectors could be expanded in the future) — Luxembourg;
• increased funding for Creative Europe Desks — Malta, Romania, Cyprus;
• maintaining and scaling up Culture Moves Europe, the EU’s mobility scheme — Malta, Romania;
• funding for preparing grant applications — Belgium. 

We have not heard radical proposals to reimagine Creative Europe: the mood was to maintain what works best, while making the programme more accessible, flexible, and responsive to the challenges. 

You can watch the full discussion here.

Image Credit: SHIOH, Lummi.ai