CEPI has joined forces with over 100 pan-European networks and associations calling on the European Commission and governments of the EU Member States to provide sufficient support for the cultural and creative sector suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter argues that the economic and social importance of culture means it deserves a prominent place in regard to the economic recovery plans in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the signatories of the letter, the measures taken by the European Commission and the Member States are not enough and ignore the prominence of our sector that accounts for 4.2% of European GDP and generates 7.4 million jobs.
At the time of the second wave of the pandemic, the stakeholders of the creative and cultural industry, therefore, urge the Commission to encourage the EU Member States to fully integrate culture into their national recovery and resilience plans. By allocating at least 2% of the budgets of the Resilience Recovery Fund to the creative and cultural sectors, as initially requested by the European Parliament in its resolution of September 2020 on the “Cultural Recovery of Europe”, the aim is to keep the sector alive and able to provide citizens with high-quality entertainment.