EUROPEAN CONVENTION: FILM DIRECTORS REITERATE THEIR DEMANDS.

Convention members and the President of the European Convention are still turning a deaf ear to repeated calls from the European cultural and audiovisual sector, according to the Federation of European Film Directors (FERA), which has reiterated its demands. In a press release published on May 23, FERA recalls the following ten points:

- Respect for and promotion of cultural diversity as a Union objective must be set down formally in the first articles of the European Constitution;

- culture must be retained within the ambit of additional Union competences. This area must therefore remain the primary competence of the Member States which will thus be free to develop their own cultural policies;

- the Council decision-making process on cultural questions must be shifted from unanimity to qualified majority in order to permit the adoption of more ambitious actions in this sector;

- the current provisions of Article 151@3 of the EC Treaty must be maintained, permitting international cultural co-operation and guaranteeing a legal basis for Community action on culture on the international stage, in order to promote balanced cultural exchanges.

- culture as a transversal issue must be confirmed and enhanced: the Community must take account of cultural aspects in the context of other policies. To this end, paragraph 4 of Article 151 must be retained;

- questions relating to cultural industries must be addressed positively in the Treaty and should no longer be subordinate solely to common competition and internal market policies;

- aid and public policies in the field...