IPOL | Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies
TOWARDS A EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK FOR WORKING CONDITIONS IN THE CULTURAL AND CREATIVE SECTORS AND INDUSTRIES KEY FINDINGS This chapter scrutinises EU competences in the field of culture and in other policy fields in order to identify several potential instruments for action to support a European framework for working conditions in the cultural and creative sectors and industries, a framework which could support negative and positive integration processes. • o o o o o
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A European framework for working conditions in the cultural and creative sectors and industries might address the following challenges: the need for minimum standards and minimum requirements within the scope of the legislative and social protection frameworks regarding e.g. working conditions, taxation and access to social security and other benefits, fair remuneration; a comprehensive and common approach to ‘artistic work’ and ‘cultural work’ across Member States and EU documents; the need to ensure that the social protection systems also allow for artists to access benefits, such as unemployment, health protection, pension the persistence of non-tariff barriers to trade within the EU as well as information asymmetries; the need to recognise the EU added value or contribution of the cultural practices of artists whose work is not (or barely) monetised, and hence the multiple forms of value of artistic work; Considering the particularities of the working conditions of artists, the development of a European framework will require articulation with EU policies on competition, the internal market, social policy, fundamental rights and equality, among others, and initiatives such as the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive.
This chapter articulates the background elements of a European framework for working conditions in the cultural and creative sectors and industries. Concrete recommendations related to these elements are addressed in the Policy Recommendations Briefing on “The Situation of Artists and Cultural Workers and the post-COVID Cultural Recovery in the European Union” (to be published soon as a separate research paper). Scrutinising EU competences EU competences in the field of culture were originally identified in the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty. Although Article 167(1) TFEU states that the EU “shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore”, Article 167(2) TFEU states that the EU can develop “action aimed at “encouraging cooperation between Member States” and “if necessary,” “supporting and supplementing” their action in specified areas, such as non-commercial cultural exchanges. This includes the possibility that the Council may adopt recommendations on proposals from the Commission (Article 167(5) TFEU); however, “harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member States” are excluded (Article 167(5) TFEU).
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