Following the UK referendum on EU membership, Culture Action Europe has repeatedly been approached on the issue of EU funding for the UK cultural sector.
On June 28th 2016, DG EAC stated that:
Following the referendum result in the United Kingdom, DG Education and Culture, which is responsible for EU programmes such as Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, has received many questions from partners and participants.
According to the Treaties which the United Kingdom has ratified, EU law continues to apply to the full to and in the United Kingdom until it is no longer a Member. This therefore also applies to the projects financed through the Creative Europe programme.
Following the referendum, member states did not all take the same stance on how rapidly decisions need to be taken. For now, the only certainty comes from David Cameron’s announcement that he will remain Prime Minister until October, and that he will not trigger article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty (which launches a two-year period for a country to leave the Union) himself. As a result, EU funding for projects including UK partners should not be put in jeopardy in the short term.
Eventually, the future of EU funding for the British cultural sector will depend on the terms the new British government will be negotiating with the EU. Culture Action Europe will monitor the talks closely, and report relevant information in due time.
