Missed opportunity for the Council of Culture Ministers to reach consensus on approving access to reliable news as part of the European Democracy Shield. Council adopted Culture as Strategic for EU values and democracy. Ministers expressed support for the Culture Compass. AgoraEU was welcomed and countries' requests “noted” by Commissioner Micallef.
By Eirini PolydorouFriday 28 November - Hungary did not agree with the Danish Presidency conclusions proposing to set Access to reliable news as part of the European Democracy Shield, arguing that the “EU has no competence to define or regulate the concept of reliable news” and making a reference to the country's pending lawsuit seeking annulment of the EMFA regulation.
"I regret that one country has not been able to adopt the draft conclusions, despite the serious challenges facing the European media sector." said Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Danish Minister for Culture.
Having only 26 countries does not allow for the consensus needed in order for the conclusions to be adopted by the Council. Therefore, at the initiative of Engel-Schmidt, Danish Minister for Culture, the conclusions were turned to the Presidency’s conclusions, instead of the Council’s.
The text of the proposed conclusions highlight the importance of editorial responsibility in ensuring access to reliable news and adherence to journalistic standards, including copyright rules applicable to journalistic content. They call to ensure relevant standards and accountability mechanisms “to ‘new’ (mostly online) news sources, including online platforms, influencers, digital gatekeepers such as search engines, and AI services”.
Covered topics include supporting media independence and pluralism, funding for news media, strengthening media literacy, and integrating media policy into “broader geopolitical security and digital policies [...] while maintaining full respect for media freedom and editorial independence”.
Highlights of today’s meeting of the Council of EU Ministers included adoption of conclusions on the strategic role strategic role of culture, cultural heritage and audiovisual works in upholding European values and democratic resilience, following the proposals made by the Danish Presidency.
“Today, we send a clear message: safeguarding culture and cultural heritage is essential to safeguarding democracy itself.” said Jakob Engel-Schmidt, Danish Minister for Culture, commenting on the adoption of the conclusions on the strategic role of culture, cultural heritage and audiovisual works in upholding European values and democratic resilience.
The key message of the conclusions highlights culture’s role in upholding values and safeguarding democracy at a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
The Council is calling on EU countries to contribute to the protection of our European values by promoting culture and cultural heritage, “with full respect for artistic freedom” and facilitating access to cultural activities and heritage, in particular multilingual content. The Ministers’ conclusions also call for integrating cultural institutions such as libraries, museums and archives into crisis preparedness planning.
The Ministers invite the Commission to highlight the link between culture, cultural and linguistic diversity and cultural heritage with upholding common values and democratic resilience in the Culture Compass initiative.
The Commission and member states are encouraged to continue promoting cultural rights and diversity in cooperation with international partners such as the Council of Europe and UNESCO.
Following an exchange of views with Commissioner Glenn Micallef, Ministers expressed their strong support for the Culture Compass and the Commission's iniative for a Joint Declaration on Europe for Culture - Culture for Europe.
On the Progress report of the Danish Presidency, the Culture Ministers welcome AgoraEU but ask for clarifying institutions’ roles and the CCS definition in the regulation text of the upcoming programme. Countries representatives welcome and support the need for flexibility. Concerns were expressed that the future integration of Creative Europe and CERV could make it difficult to build on the successes of the programmes.
Commissioner Micallef assured the Danish Presidency and the Ministers that the Commission takes note of their interventions, including their requests for a Committee, Desks and a clear CCS definition.
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