AUDIOVISUAL POLICY : FILM INDUSTRY AID SCHEME TO REMAIN IN PLACE UNTIL 2009.

The beneficiaries of the existing public aid scheme for the film industry can breathe a sigh of relief until the end of December 2009 "at the latest". The current public aid scheme should not be called into question by the European Commission but extended until a new more economically stable scheme is proposed. The Commission has ordered an expert study due by mid-2007.

After announcing as much to MEPs on the European Parliament's Culture and Education Committee on 19 December, the European information society and media commissioner needed, along with her colleague, Neelie Kroes, responsible for competition, to secure the College's approval for an extension of the existing scheme until the end of 2009 at the latest, according to a source in the Commission. An agreement should be forthcoming in the coming weeks through the written procedure.

The current system is based on a communication published jointly in 2001 by the then Competition Commissioner Mario Monti and...