Parliamentary question

Written question to the European Commission

‘Culture is and must be at the heart of the European project’ – this is Commissioner Hahn’s strong statement in the recently published Commission proposal for the 2023 EU budget.

We – the members of the Cultural Creators Friendship Group – fully agree.

In the light of the proposed 2023 budget for the Creative Europe programme (EUR 325.3 million in comparison to EUR 406.5 million for 2022), we would like to ask for clarification on the following points:

1.Can the Commission confirm that the proposed Creative Europe 2023 budget is 20 % lower than the budget for 2022?

2.Does the Commission see any contradiction between this massively reduced Creative Europe 2023 budget and Commissioner Hahn’s above-quoted statement on the place of culture in the European project?

3.Does the proposed Creative Europe 2023 budget mean that the Commission believes the COVID-19 crisis is over and that the cultural and creative sectors will not suffer from any long-term consequences of the pandemic after 2022?