An action by COPEAM for the Euro-Mediterranean audiovisual sector
The 8th April 2008, in Brussels, the meeting of the Ministers in charge of the EUROMED Partnership took place in order to prepare the Summit of the Ministers of Culture to be held on the 29th and 30th May 2008, in Athens.
On this occasion, a hearing was granted to COPEAM, which was represented by its Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General, both mandated by the President Habib Chawki Hamraoui.
This meeting allowed the representatives of the Association to present its activities, including those carried out in collaboration with ASBU and EBU, and moreover to raise the issue concerning the cooperation’s strengthening in the Euro-Mediterranean audiovisual field and its inclusion in the next years’ action plan of the Partnership.
Many governmental representatives, among the 39 who took part in the meeting, intervened in favour of this action in support of the EUROMED Audiovisual Program, and endorsed COPEAM proposal, that was based on three key principles: the launch of a third phase of the Program; the increasing of the budget; the reorientation of the Program towards television and radio.
On the basis of the positions expressed by the national Delegations, the Slovenian Presidency - that supported COPEAM in such a framework - held back the paragraph of the draft Resolution of the Ministers of Culture concerning the EUROMED Audiovisual Program and committed itself to officially ask the European Commission to grant the continuance of this Program.