AUDIOVISUAL: COMMISSION RESHUFFLE RAISES CONCERNS.

• Position: Brief Article

European Commissioner for Culture and the Audiovisual, Viviane Reding, said on September 6, in the margins of the Venice Mostra, that she would be the oguarantor of continuityo on the Barroso Commission (which will succeed Romano Prodis team from November 1, 2004). Indeed, Ms Reding will keep the Audiovisual Portfolio but it will be attached to Information Society - and no longer to Culture. The audiovisual policy and the audiovisual support units (MEDIA) are thus shifting from DG Cultural Policy to DG Information society, generating fears within the sector. The Federation of European Film Directors (FERA) has already written to the President designate of the Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and to Ms Reding, asking them not to overlook the fundamental cultural role of the audiovisual sector. At the European Parliament, the President of the Greens, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, pointed out that the...