Council Conclusions of 17 December 1999 on cultural industries and employment in Europe
C 8/10 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 12. 1. 2000 COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS of 17 December 1999 on cultural industries and employment in Europe (2000/C 8/07) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, (1) RECALLING the Council Resolution of 4 April 1995 on culture and the multimedia (1); (2) RECALLING the Council Resolution of 20 November 1995 on the promotion of statistics on culture and economic growth (2); (3) RECALLING the Council Resolution of 20 January 1997 on into Community the integration of cultural aspects actions (3); (4) RECALLING the Commission staff working paper Culture, cultural industries and employmentí of 14 May 1998 in which the Commission analysed the employment impact of the cultural sector and employment prospects in the sector; (5) NOTES the new emphasis on employment in the Amsterdam Treaty, and, in particular, the importance of employment in other Community policies and activities, and the possibilities afforded by the creation of an employment strategy; (6) RECALLS that the most important cultural industries include, inter alia, cinema and audiovisual production, the performing arts, music, visual arts, architecture publishing and press, multimedia, recording industries, design and industrial arts and cultural tourism and that the cultural heritage is an important basis for the creation of new cultural products; (7) NOTES that according to data available, the cultural sector provided employment for some three million persons in the EU countries in 1995, which represented about two per cent of all the jobs in the EU, and that in the course of the 1990s employment has been growing significantly faster in the cultural sector than overall; (8) STRESSES that progress in communication technology and the information society has substantially increased the number of distribution channels, which has boosted demand that commodities and services in other sectors are increasingly developed and marketed with the help of cultural input, such as design; new programme content, and for (1) OJ C 247, 23. 9. 1995, p. 1. (2) OJ C 327, 7. 12. 1995, p. 1. (3) OJ C 36, 5. 2. 1997, p. 4. (9) STRESSES that it is vital for European competitiveness and for cultural diversity to strengthen the cultural industries and that the cultural industries have substantial growth potential in the single market and the global market; (10) NOTES that cultural industries, which rely heavily on human resources, constitute a labour-intensive sector, that people working in the cultural sector are often highly educated and qualified, that a significant part of the jobs are project-specific, short-term and part-time engagements in small and medium-sized enterprises and that the sector employs men and women in almost equal numbers; (11) ESTIMATES that the growing demand for cultural services and commodities and especially the development of the information society and hightech branches will continue to create jobs; (12) NOTES that cultural dependent on local partnerships industries help local markets; industry enterprises are often cultural innovations to reach international and that (13) RECALLS that cultural industries are important for the future in terms of regional policies, such as Structural in the in addition to job creation, Funds; industries enhances knowledge and know-how cultural interaction and makes in their region, promotes social the enterprises and for for region more attractive it also contributes to making knowledge more citizens, accessible to the public; investment (14) EMPHASISES that artistic and other creative work is the foundation for the viability and renewal for cultural indus- tries; (15) is difficult IS AWARE that it comparable statistics on cultural employment European level, impact both at to obtain reliable and industries and their and the the national INVITES the Commission: - to take into account the importance of cultural industries in current and future Community action and programmes, - to pay attention to the important role of cultural industries concerning and diversity actions for for cultural employment, 12. 1. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 8/11 - to encourage the dissemination of opportunities for the cultural Funds, and to undertake studies to this end, information about industries in the Structural - to continue work on the preparation of cultural statistics, in particular as regards cultural industries and their impact on employment, and to facilitate exchange of information between Member States; INVITES the Member States: - to consider the role of sustainable jobs within the context of employment action plans, the cultural sector in creating their national - to recognise the importance of the further training of creative artists and other persons working in the cultural field, - to encourage cooperation in the promotion of cultural industries between the public and private sectors and to recognise rapidly changing operational environment, training in the importance of the - to intensify coordination, cooperation and exchange of in questions information between national authorities relating to the promotion of cultural industries