Following a joint press release published at San Sebastián Film Festival on September 21, 2025, we are taking a new step forward today.

Together with more than 30 international, European, and national organisations, we are submitting proposed amendments to the European Parliament and the Council to ensure that the future AgoraEU programme truly protects independent audiovisual creation in Europe.

While the European Commission’s ambition to strengthen the media ecosystem and combat disinformation deserves recognition, the proposed reform raises major concerns for the future of European audiovisual production.

Our priorities:

✔️ Reinstate the independence criterion as a mandatory condition for access to production funding.
✔️ Strictly separate budgets dedicated to audiovisual creation from those allocated to news media and the fight against disinformation.
✔️ Restrict access to funding for companies from non-associated, non-European countries, in order to preserve our cultural sovereignty.
✔️ Ensure transparency and predictability of the programme, notably through the reintroduction of annexes detailing the different support schemes.

For more than 30 years, the MEDIA programme has been a cornerstone of European cultural diversity. It cannot become a mere secondary objective within a broader programme with unclear contours.

For a strong, sovereign, and independent Europe of culture, we call on co-legislators to preserve the founding spirit of MEDIA.

We remain fully committed as constructive partners to building ambitious and protective solutions for Europe’s cultural future.

See amendments: Amendments to the ‘AgoraEU’ programme 2028-2034 – Audiovisual production