AUDIOVISUAL POLICY: EXECUTIVES CALL FOR MORE AMBITIOUS AND LESS PERNICKETY EUROPE.

• Position: Vincent Jamois - Brief Article

Vincent Jamois of the audiovisual policy unit at the Commission's Education and Culture Directorate General, meanwhile recalled that reform of the Television without Frontiers (TWF) Directive has been deferred to leave time in 2003 for wide ranging consultation with the sector. Lennart van der Meulen claims this postponement is "ridiculous. Now is not the time to wait but to act", he insists, calling for "greater independence for channels and much more robust support for the production of national and local content". Re-examination of the Directive will coincide as pointed out by Joan Botella of the Catalan Audiovisual Council (CAC), with World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations that have thus far excluded cinema and audiovisuals in the name of the notorious "cultural exception". Mr Botella insists "it is vital that the Commission acts coherently on these two dossiers".

Besides the TWF Directive, the thorny issue of national public aid, regulated by Brussels and closely monitored by the Directorate General for Competition (DGC), was also raised. Jacques Peskine, President of France's Union syndicale de la production audiovisuelle (USPA), insists there can be no doubt, "Brussels' analysis tools are radically ill-adapted, a fact that may have...