L 288/10 Official Journal of the European Union 4.11.2009 DECISIONS ADOPTED JOINTLY BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL DECISION No 1041/2009/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 October 2009 establishing an audiovisual cooperation programme with professionals from third countries (MEDIA Mundus) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 150(4) and 157(3) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (), Whereas: (1) The audiovisual sector contributes to achieving the goals of the Lisbon Agenda, namely to boost competitiveness, skills, growth and jobs in a knowledge-based economy. It plays a major role in the context of the 2010 initiative — the policy umbrella for the European information society and media policies — in the framework of the Lisbon Agenda. (2)  The European Parliament has consistently emphasised that the audiovisual sector makes an important contribution to the European creative and knowledge economy and plays a central role in promoting cultural diversity and pluralism, as well as being an important platform for freedom of speech. (3)  The cultural and creative sectors contribute substantially to the European cultural economy and in 2004 creative () Opinion of 25 March 2009 (O] C 228, 22.9.2009, p. 100). (3) Opinion of 21 April 2009 (O] C 200, 25.8.2009, p. 51). (’) Opinion of the European Parliament of 7 May 2009 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 14 September 2009. () ) 0] 0] industries employed at least 5,8 million people, equivalent to 3,1 % of the total employed EU-25 popu- lation. Community support to the audiovisual sector takes into account Article 151 of the Treaty, which states that the Community and the Member States shall foster coop- eration with third countries and the competent inter- national organisations in the sphere of culture, and that the Community shall take cultural aspects into account in its action, in particular in order to respect and to promote the diversity of its cultures. In its resolution of 16 November 2007 on a European Agenda for Culture (¥, the Council considered that culture was a vital element of international relations and underlined the need to enhance its role in the EU’s external relations and development policy. The European Parliament, in its resolution of 10 April 2008 on a European agenda for culture in a globalising world, also underlined, with respect to the Unesco Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, the importance of integrating a cultural dimension into all policies and programmes, including external policies and development. On 21 November 2008 the Council and the Represen- tatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, adopted conclusions on the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue in the external relations of the Union and its Member States (°). The Commission’s communication of 8 June 2006 on ‘Europe in the world’ emphasises the inextricable link between the EU’s internal and external policies, and stresses that Europe has the potential to share in the new opportunities created by emerging markets and globalisation, as it has an open society that can absorb people, ideas and new technologies. C 287, 29.11.2007, p. 1. C 320, 16.12.2008, p. 10.