Independent European producers raise concerns over the proposed AgoraEU (2028–2034)

At the side of the San Sebastian film festival, the signatories of the joint initiative of Independent European Producers acknowledge the European Commission’s ambition to increase the budget, strengthen the media ecosystem and support pluralism, press freedom, and the fight against disinformation. 

However, they raise their concerns that the proposed AgoraEU takes a risky turn for the future of independent audiovisual creation in Europe. 

Their key concerns refer to the proposal’s weakened support for independent productions, as the independence criterion for funding is removed.

They highlight the unclear allocation of budget between the audiovisual and the news sector, while mixing support for audiovisual creation with political objectives, blurs MEDIA+ mission, “to the detriment of clarity and its impact on the audiovisual sector”.

Their concerns include that opening EU-funding doors to non-European entities “undermines cultural sovereignty and exposes the sector to further market concentration in favour of global giants”.

They underscore complex and opaque governance, due to the absence of mechanisms to consult Member States and stakeholders, and to the Commission’s centralization of decisions.

They provide specific policy proposals including to:

- Reinstate the criteria of independence as a mandatory condition for support.

- Strictly separate funding for the audiovisual sector from funding for news and the fight against disinformation, ensuring clarity and dedicated budgets.

- Restrict access to funding for companies from non-associated, non-European countries.

- Reintroduce annexes specifying different support objectives, in order to provide the sector with predictability and sectoral stability.

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