The "Creative Europe" activity confirms the economic impact and strategic role of culture and media in the EU.

A report from the European Commission shows that the Creative Europe program has become an essential instrument for the cultural competitiveness of the Union, mobilizing billions of euros, increasing the visibility of European works, and strengthening media pluralism. After a decade of implementation, culture and media are increasingly recognized as economic and democratic infrastructure.

Brussels, December 17, 2025 – The Creative Europe program has had a significant economic, cultural, and democratic impact in the European Union, according to the evaluation report adopted by the European Commission, which analyzes the final evaluation of the 2014–2020 program and the interim evaluation of the current 2021–2027 program.

In short

Creative Europe has supported thousands of cultural and media projects in the last ten years.

European productions funded have much greater visibility on TV, in cinemas, and on VOD platforms.

The program has supported the cross-border mobility of artists and cultural professionals on a large scale.

Almost 2 billion euros have been mobilized through financial instruments for the cultural and creative sectors.

The EU has begun to explicitly fund quality journalism to protect pluralism and editorial independence.

The report shows that Creative Europe has simultaneously contributed to protecting cultural and linguistic diversity and increasing the economic competitiveness of the cultural, creative, and audiovisual sectors, in a fragmented European market along national and linguistic lines. Although the program's budget represents only 0.2% of the total EU budget, its impact is considered disproportionate to its financial size.

On the MEDIA component, the evaluation confirms a substantial increase in the cross-border circulation of European films and series. Productions supported by MEDIA have been available to the public in 9.5 times more EU countries on television, 6.6 times more in cinemas, and 3.2 times more on video-on-demand platforms, compared to similar European works that did not receive funding. During the evaluated period, the supported films and series attracted at least 241 million additional admissions outside their country of origin.

The Culture component of the program has supported over 1,800 projects, involving approximately 6,700 organizations, and has financed nearly 500,000 days of mobility for artists and cultural professionals. These exchanges have facilitated the circulation of works beyond borders and have contributed to building a more integrated European cultural space. The report shows that 8 out of 10 collaborations continued even after the projects were completed, indicating a lasting structural impact.

An important chapter is dedicated to financial instruments. The guarantee facility for the cultural and creative sectors, implemented together with the European Investment Fund, has mobilized nearly 2 billion euros in loans, reducing the financing access gap by 15–30%. The success of this mechanism has laid the groundwork for the launch of MediaInvest, a capital instrument dedicated to the audiovisual sector, which was later integrated into InvestEU.

Starting in 2021, Creative Europe has expanded support for quality journalism, funding projects aimed at promoting editorial independence, media pluralism, and media education. The report notes that this line is heavily oversubscribed, in a context where advertising revenues for newsrooms are declining, and risks to press freedom are increasing in several member states.

The evaluation highlights that the demand for funding consistently exceeds the available budget, especially for cultural cooperation projects and journalism, making European funding essential for these sectors to adapt to technological changes, global competition, and economic pressures.

Creative Europe is the EU's main program dedicated to culture, the audiovisual sector, and creative industries. The budget for the 2021–2027 period is 2.44 billion euros, an increase of 66% compared to the previous period. The program is structured into three components: MEDIA, Culture, and Transsectoral, the latter including support for media and innovation. The evaluation report will inform the preparation of the future successor program, AgoraEU.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/stiri/activitatea-creative-europe-confirma-impactul-economic-si-rolul-strategic-al-culturii-si-media-in-ue