ZAGREB, April 10, 2020 – EU culture ministers have held an informal video conference on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the cultural and creative sector and exchanged experience on the steps undertaken by their governments to fight the pandemic as well as proposals for action at the EU level.
The video conference, held at the proposal of Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek, was attended by EC Vice-President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova, Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Obuljen Koržinek said the debate showed that all member-countries had taken action to help artists, cultural institutions and companies in the cultural and creative industries in the current crisis when cultural projects are being cancelled or postponed.
She said the participants in the meeting also discussed the public’s consumption of cultural content on various online platforms.
Commissioner Jourova said that the response to the crisis should be comprehensive and emphasised the importance of the media sector, professional work of journalists and the responsibility of the media to prevent fake news and disinformation.
Commissioner Breton spoke of the measures that had been introduced on the internal market and underlined the importance of media and the audio-visual industry, while Gabriel presented activities launched by European associations, member states and the European Commission in the cultural and creative sectors to minimise the negative consequences of the pandemic for citizens.
The meeting particularly underlined the need for a flexible approach to the beneficiaries of the Creative Europe programme.
The video conference was held on April 8 and the ministers will continue their discussion at the Council of the Ministers of Culture on May 19.
More news about coronavirus can be found in the Lifestyle section.
