Health emergency due to Covid-19 virus. Financial instruments to support the cultural sector

Subject: Health emergency due to Covid-19 virus. Financial instruments to support the cultural sector

The health emergency caused by the spread of the Covid-19 virus has forced EU Member States to introduce drastic but necessary social distancing measures. The latter are having a severe economic impact also on the education and cultural sectors.

In particular, in the cultural sector, cinemas, small concert halls, theatres and museums have been forced to put their activities on hold, which is leading to serious financial losses and having an inevitable adverse impact on jobs.

In view of the above, can the Commission say what financial instruments it intends to adopt in support of the creative sector, in particular, to assist small and medium-sized enterprises and cultural associations which have suffered serious financial losses as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Answer given by Ms Gabriel on behalf of the European Commission

(17 June 2020)

The current crisis is bound to have an adverse impact on the cultural and creative sectors. Some institutions benefit from public support but experience nevertheless significant budget shortfalls. Many small and medium-sized companies and freelance professionals could face bankruptcy. The Commission recognises the gravity of the situation and wants to make EU-wide solutions available to them.

The Commission has put forward the Corona Response Investment Initiative (CRII) (1), the temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) (2) as well as the Temporary Framework for State Aid measures (3) to support the economy. Member States can decide to use these instruments for the cultural and creative sectors and the Commission encourages them to do so.

The Commission is applying maximum flexibility to projects funded under the Creative Europe programme. Special measures are envisaged for cinemas as well as the performing arts and the book sector. The evaluation of the 2020 cooperation projects was sped up so that a first part of the financing will reach the beneficiaries quickly.

The Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility has so far provided over EUR 420 million to more than 2 000 projects and is expected to guarantee over EUR 2 billion in loans by the end of 2022.

In the current context, the Commission is working with the European Investment Fund on additional measures to allow for more flexibility in the repayment of loans, to give more security to the financial institutions and to continue the build-up of portfolios of loans.

The Commission has also just launched two platforms. One will allow for sharing good practices between the Member States and the other one is directed to the cultural sectors to ensure constant dialogue (4).

⋅1∙ https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/about_the_european_commission/eu_budget/13032020_-_coronavirus_response_investment_initiative_final_v2_0.pdf

⋅2∙ https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-financial-assistance/loan-programmes/sure_en

⋅3∙ Communication from the Commission — Temporary framework for state aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak,

19 March 2020, OJ C 91I, 20.3.2020, p. 1-9 and Amendment to the Temporary Framework for state aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak, 03.04.2020, C(2020)2215 final, OJ C 112I, 4.4.2020, p. 1-9 and Amendment of 08.05.2020, C(2020)3156 final [not yet published]. ⋅4∙ https://creativesunite.eu/