Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia could be among six potential new members of the European Union’s (EU) forthcoming Creative Europe programme, which is expected to begin operations from January 2014, Screen Daily reports.
Speaking at a discussion about cooperation between East and West at this week’s Odessa International Film Festival’s Industry Programme, the European Commission’s Irina Orssich explained that accession candidates countries or countries bordering the EU – such as Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – could negotiate to have full participation or sign bilateral agreements for specific actions.
Key prerequisites for full participation in Creative Europe would be for any of these countries to have the World Trade Organisation’s ¨most-favoured-nation¨ exemption of the audiovisual sector and respect of certain conditions laid down in the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) directive.
Alternatively, a national government could decide to conclude a bilateral agreement with the European Commission on specific actions in the future framework programme.
