Call to protect Creative Europe MEDIA funding in the 2027 EU budget
16 October 2026
News
SAA has co-signed a joint letter with organisations representing Europe’s film and audiovisual sectors, urging the Council and Member States to reverse proposed cuts to Creative Europe in the 2027 EU budget. The Council’s position would remove €31.6 million in commitment appropriations from the programme, including €23.2 million from the MEDIA strand, along with a €10.53 million reduction in payments.
For more than three decades, MEDIA has supported the development, production, distribution and promotion of European works across borders, and the cooperation it enables cannot be replicated by national markets alone. The signatories warn that cutting it now, when demand for support already far outstrips available funds, would undermine the stability that audiovisual projects depend on and contradict the Council’s own November 2025 conclusions on the strategic role of culture in democratic resilience.
The letter calls on the Council to restore the Commission’s proposed appropriations for all Creative Europe strands and to align with the European Parliament’s proposed €15 million increase for the programme.
Read the full letter below.