Switzerland wants to negotiate cultural program with EU
The Federal Council has adopted a negotiating mandate for Switzerland's participation in the EU Culture Program 2014-2020. Participation is now more open than ever following Switzerland's decision to cancel the free movement of persons with Croatia.
The Culture program is the umbrella for the cultural activities of the European Union. 38 European countries participate in the current program, making it the most important instrument for promoting culture at European level.
The program supports the cross-border mobility of creative artists and promotes the dissemination of artistic works. It has a budget of 453 million euros for the period 2014 to 2020. It has been part of the new framework program since January 2014 Creative Europewhich also includes the film promotion program Media heard. To Media the Federal Council adopted a negotiating mandate back in September 2013.
By definitively adopting the mandate, the Federal Council will enable negotiations to begin quickly in this area as soon as the culture and media dossiers are unblocked by the EU. Following the cancellation of the free movement of persons with Croatia - a consequence of the adoption of the mass immigration initiative - the EU has put cooperation with Switzerland on student exchanges and research on hold. Cultural exchanges are also suffering as a result of the change in relations between Switzerland and the EU.
