SLOVENIAN WORK PROGRAMME IN THE FIELD OF CULTURE AND AUDIOVISUAL POLICY 

The Education, Youth and Culture Council brings together the Ministers responsible for education, culture and youth from the 27 Member States. It meets three or four times a year.
The Culture Council (which includes also audiovisual matters) traditionally meets in May and November. During the Slovenian Presidency, the Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti will chair the Culture Council, which will take place on 21st May 2008 in Brussels.

In the Committee on Culture of the Council of the European Union, Slovenia will pay special attention to the preparation of the work plan for the following three-year period (2008–2010). The plan will be prepared on the basis of a communication in which the European Commission proposes, by fully respecting the principle of subsidarity, the determination of common culture-related priority tasks of the Member States and their implementation through the (new) open method of coordination. Pursuant to this Commission communication, the Portuguese Presidency drafted a Resolution on a European programme for culture in the globalised world, which was adopted at the meeting of the Education, Youth and Culture Council held in November 2007. The Annex to the Resolution also contains priority tasks to be integrated into the new work plan as laid down by the Member States.

The documents will also be the basis for the elaboration of a new work plan for culture for the following three-year period. Slovenia, the first presiding country to conduct work in the field of culture, should, on the basis of the open method of coordination, prepare the plan so as to be adopted at the meeting of the Education, Youth and Culture Council in May 2008.

In the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, Slovenia will devote special attention to the implementation of its content. For the first exchange of opinions in the Council, Slovenia will prepare a draft document on intercultural dialogue with particular emphasis on the creation of opportunities for the development of intercultural competences of citizens of the European Union. These competences should mainly be achieved by opening possibilities for artistic creation and exchange, concern for European cultural heritage and by encouraging multilingualism.

During its Presidency, Slovenia will continue the efforts outlined by the previous presidencies to integrate a clear statement on the connection between creativity and innovation and on the importance of encouraging intercultural dialogue among young people in the Lisbon Strategy.
 

Audio-visual policy
At the close of 2007, the European Commission published two communications : on media literacy and on creative websites. The documents are related to the implementation of the initiative “i2010”, representing the framework for implementation of policy in the field of information society and communications through which the EU contributes to the development of the economy, society and individual quality of life.

By preparing the conclusions of the Council of the European Union on media literacy, Slovenia's Presidency will contribute to the creation of concrete measures for the improvement of understanding and development of a critical approach to advertising in the media and on the Internet, to awareness-raising related to creative capabilities offered by audio-visual media and to knowledge of European film heritage.

Ministers responsible for media will also present their views on the proposals of the European Commission for the development of and accessibility to creative content on the Internet. Through this, the Slovenian Presidency will contribute to the formulation of recommendations for speeding up development in this field, which is currently being impeded by unresolved issues on copyright protection.

Some substantive media-related issues are inseparably connected with the rapid technological development of telecommunications. Therefore, the Slovenian Presidency will also pay due attention to the provision of public interest, cultural diversity and media pluralism in the digital environment.

More Information:

Tanja Grželj, Head of Presidency Team, National Delegate in Committee for Cultural Affairs, tel.: +386 1 369 58 79, e-mail: tanja.grzelj(at)gov.si 

Sonja Kralj Bervar, Chair of Committee for Cultural Affairs, tel.: +386 1 369 58 42, e-mail: sonja.kralj-bervar(at)gov.si

Skender Adem, National Delegate in AV Working Group, tel.: +386 1 369 59 85, e-mail: skender.adem(at)gov.si

Sašo Gazdić, Chair of AV Working Group, tel.: +32 2 213 63 39, e-mail: saso.gazdic(at)gov.si