Proposed €8.6 Billion for Culture and Democracy in the Next EU budget

Culture Action Europe (CAE), our partner in the Cultural Deal for Europe campaign, has released its initial analysis of the European Commission’s proposal for the 2028–2034 EU budget.

The new programme AgoraEU would bring together existing frameworks like Creative Europe and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme, along with support for media and civil society. The Commission has proposed a total of €8.6 billion for AgoraEU:

• €1.8 billion for the Creative Europe – Culture strand;

• €3.2 billion for Media+;

• €3.6 billion for Democracy, Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values.

According to CAE, the proposal represents a potential doubling of the EU’s culture budget compared to the current MFF (2021–2027), and maintains the autonomy and visibility of the Creative Europe – Culture strand. The cultural objectives and funding schemes remain intact, and the framework retains a cross-sectoral approach to ensure access across diverse areas of the sector.

At the same time, CAE stresses that the proposed funding level constitutes “only the bare minimum” needed to support and grow Europe’s cultural sector, and urges the European Parliament and Council to strengthen the budget during negotiations. The analysis also highlights the importance of continued mobilisation across the cultural field to protect the gains made and to build broad-based alliances.

This is the Commission’s first proposal, marking the start of a longer process involving Member States and the European Parliament. As negotiations move forward, CAE will continue to track developments closely.

Photo by Diane Helentjaris on Unsplash.