MFF updates: What is the state of play for culture?
This article is an extract of the March 2026 issue of the Brussels Decoder, Culture Action Europe’s monthly members-only publication containing regular updates and analysis on EU(ropean) cultural policy and politics. If you wish to receive regular updates on the MFF and other EU(ropean) cultural policy developments in the future, then consider becoming a Culture Action Europe member: discover all the advantages linked to the membership here.
The Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is the EU’s next long-term budget for 2028–2034, which will shape the future of EU funding for culture.
1. AgoraEU
- European Parliament
The CULT Committee has adopted its opinion on the Parliament’s MFF interim report, which is led by the Committee on Budgets (BUDG).
Rapporteur Helder Sousa Silva (EPP, Portugal) is pushing for: 1) €12 billion for AgoraEU; 2) a detailed budgetary nomenclature for AgoraEU, with specific budget lines and sub-lines for each strand (Culture, MEDIA+ and CERV+), and items under each sub-line; 3) a clear separation between the Audiovisual and News components within the MEDIA+ strand; 4) a stronger inclusion of education and culture across the European Competitiveness Fund (with a dedicated earmarking and budget line) and Horizon Europe; 5) extending the digital fines mechanism to Erasmus+, proposing that revenues from big tech fines flow not only to AgoraEU but also to Erasmus+.
This position is closely aligned with what Culture Action Europe has been advocating for. That said, CULT’s document remains an opinion—the BUDG Committee has the final say. The vote in BUDG is scheduled for 15 April, followed by a plenary vote in Strasbourg on 29 April. This report matters because it sets out the Parliament’s overall position on the MFF: its structure, principles and concrete funding figures.
Meanwhile, the CULT and LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) Committees have begun their work on the AgoraEU file itself. On 4 March, MEP Emma Rafowicz (S&D, France), co-rapporteur for AgoraEU, held a consultation with cultural networks.
We presented our position, and from subsequent exchanges it’s clear the rapporteurs are broadly supportive of the main asks: the digital fines mechanism (though a new distribution key is currently being developed, as other programmes are also competing for a share); earmarking of strands; a detailed annex; and recognition of the sector-specific complexity. There is a strong music lobby pushing for dedicated actions for their sector, although support will need to remain balanced across all sectors. The hearing also raised questions from MEP assistants on two emerging issues: AI (should the programme include specific action on AI and culture?), and social conditionality — whether it would make sense to introduce it and, if so, whether it should extend beyond the Culture Strand to the programme as a whole.
- The Council
The Council plans to reach a ‘partial general approach’ on AgoraEU at the Culture Council meeting on 12 May 2026 and aims to present ministers with a near-final compromise text by then.
It is worth noting that a partial general approach is not a fully finalised Council position. It reflects agreement on key parts of a proposal, while other provisions remain open. For an MFF-related file such as AgoraEU, this typically means that the text is politically agreed by ministers, but some horizontal or budget elements may still be unresolved.
The latest publicly available revised Presidency text dates from 9 February and is available here.
Want to act? Write to your finance minister! Ahead of our six regional Satellite conferences, Culture Action Europe is asking our regional hubs in the EU to send letters to their national finance ministers to help secure funding for culture in the next EU budget.
Finance ministers have a central role because they ‘hold the pen’ on the numbers and ultimately decide the overall size of the budget and the financial envelopes for each programme of the next MFF package.
Many Culture Action Europe members have written to their finance ministers before. Should you write again? Yes, because the decisions are still being made. With this new letter, we aim to draw attention to specific programmes and concrete opportunities for culture within the next MFF.
2. Horizon Europe
The ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee of the Parliament has published its draft opinion on the Horizon Europe Framework Programme.
A reminder: the Commission’s proposal is built around two pillars: the Competitiveness Pillar (with four policy windows: 1) Clean Transition and Industrial Decarbonisation; 2) Health, Biotech, Agriculture and Bioeconomy; 3) Digital Leadership; 4) Defence and Space) and the Society Pillar to address societal challenges and support New European Bauhaus. Culture was not meaningfully included in either, which prompted Culture Action Europe and the Artistic Research Alliance to advocate for an explicit cultural component under the Society Pillar. The CULT Committee’s opinion on Horizon supports this idea, going as far as proposing that 40% of the Society Pillar be allocated to culture (this would amount to roughly €3 billion).
ITRE, the lead Committee on Horizon, has different ideas. In his draft report, rapporteur Christian Ehler (EPP, Germany) proposes dismantling the Society Pillar altogether and folding its content into an additional fifth policy window ‘Global Societal Challenges’ under the Competitiveness Pillar. Ehler mentions culture as a horizontal principle in Article 5: ‘provide for the integration of social sciences, humanities and the arts (SSHA) across all components under the Programme, including specific calls for proposals on SSHA related topics, topics dedicated to the cultural and creative industries.’ However, we are afraid that without a dedicated structural component, culture risks being diluted into broader priorities.
Together with allies, CAE is preparing amendments for ITRE’s shadow rapporteurs to push culture back onto the table.
3. National and Regional Partnership Plans
National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPPs) are the new instrument through which each Member State will access EU regional funding in 2028–2034.
In the current MFF, Member States manage different structural and cohesion funds through separate operational programmes, which often leads to fragmentation and duplication. The NRPP model is designed to address this problem: each country will submit one integrated plan to the Commission, combining investment from different funds under a coherent national strategy.
The new architecture will be governed by several regulations. The European Fund for Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion is the overarching regulation. It establishes the NRPP framework itself: the rules, governance structures, timelines, partnership requirements, and the overall objectives that all spending must serve. It is the legal architecture within which the other funds operate.
The European Fund for Regional Development and Cohesion Fund sits within that architecture and is the main tool for regional investment (funding infrastructure, innovation, and heritage) to reduce disparities between regions.
The European Social Fund also sits within the same architecture but focuses on people rather than places: employment, skills, social inclusion, and working conditions.
There are other funds, but the ones listed here are the most relevant for culture.
The European Parliament has now started establishing its position on these various files.
CULT rapporteur Hélder Sousa Silva (EPP, Portugal) has prepared a draft opinion on the European Fund for Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion. The lead committees are BUDG, REGI and AGRI.
Sousa Silva aimed to anchor culture more prominently in the legal base of the Fund. His amendments propose that NRP Plans ‘promote the role of culture as a public good’ and ‘support cultural infrastructure, bolster access to culture and reinforce cultural infrastructure, in particular at local level, as well as protect and promote the Union’s natural and cultural heritage.’
On resources, the Commission’s text earmarks 14% of the Fund to social objectives. The CULT draft opinion proposes that within this envelope, ‘an adequate amount shall be dedicated for supporting culture as a means to promoting societal cohesion, resilience and inclusion, as well as increasing regional attractiveness and reducing gaps between regions.’
Culture Action Europe supports the mainstreaming approach, but ‘adequate amount’ is not enough: we are calling for a minimum allocation of 2% to be explicitly stated in the regulation.
The European Social Fund Regulation proposed by the Commission is currently limited in scope and focuses only on three topics: social innovation, demographic transition and material deprivation.
In the European Parliament, the EMPL(oyment) Committee is leading on the ESF file, while CULT is preparing an opinion. CULT’s rapporteur Isilda Gomes (S&D, Portugal) takes a very culture-friendly line. In the draft opinion, she introduces culture as one of the ESF priorities and proposes that Member States allocate 7.5% of ESF resources to culture.
Culture Action Europe welcomes this direction. We have also put forward amendments specifying the types of cultural measures the ESF could support: upskilling, reskilling and lifelong learning; career guidance and transition support; improved access to social protection; stronger representative organisations and social dialogue; safe and non-discriminatory workplaces; and support for socially engaged arts that promote participation, inclusion and community-building.
The Commission has published detailed datasets on the implementation of the 2021–2027 cohesion funds, a gift for data nerds. A first look suggests that, under intervention field 166 ‘Cultural heritage and cultural services’, the EU planned to allocate around €5.30 billion, mainly from the European Regional Development Fund (€4.78 billion), plus Interreg funds (€0.36 billion) and the Just Transition Fund (€0.16 billion). Combined with national co-financing, this brings the total planned investment in culture to about €6.96 billion. Field 166 ‘Cultural heritage and cultural services’ represents about 1.36% of total EU cohesion funding and about 1.26% of total combined funding.
This article is an extract of the March 2026 issue of the Brussels Decoder, Culture Action Europe’s monthly members-only publication containing regular updates and analysis on EU(ropean) cultural policy and politics. If you wish to receive regular updates on the MFF and other EU(ropean) cultural policy developments in the future, then consider becoming a Culture Action Europe member: discover all the advantages linked to the membership here.
Image credit: Studio Madonna, BEYOND 2025: Being Many | Torino, 2025.