Parliament adopted two reports on cultural industries, the first calls for a new task force on culture and the creative economy, a programme to support the culture industries the second calls more should be done to ensure that EU programmes reflect Europe's common cultural heritage.

A new task force on culture and the creative economy, a programme to support the culture industries, less VAT and a sharper focus on training and mobility are proposed in an own-initiative report adopted by the European Parliament on the cultural industries' potential to contribute to the Lisbon growth and jobs strategy.
 
Cultural industries account for 2.6 % of the EU GDP (2003) and over five million Europeans work in the sector (2004). The cultural sector is growing faster than others, and thus has an important role in attaining the Lisbon strategy growth and jobs targets, says the report.
 
In the report MEPs welcome the readiness of the Commission and Council to acknowledge the central role of culture and creativity in promoting European citizenship and bringing the arts closer to the European public, as well as achieving the Lisbon strategy aims.

Intellectual property: consumers should not be criminalised

MEPs urge the Commission to rethink the issue of intellectual property in order to assure solutions that are equitable for both big and small actors and strike a balance between the respect of intellectual property and the access to cultural events and content.  The House underlines that on the battle against digital piracy, the solution should not be to criminalise consumers who do not intend to make profit out of their actions. Furthermore, MEPs suggest campaigns to educate consumers and raise awareness of their responsibilities.

"European Heritage" label

Although EU programmes in the cultural sector will contribute to cohesion, real convergence, economic growth, sustainable development, innovation employment and competitiveness, MEPs believe that the existing programmes do not fully reflect the implications of the European's common cultural heritage. The House therefore calls on the Commission to propose specific programmes to preserve Europe's cultural heritage, as well as a "European Heritage" label, to emphasise the European dimension of cultural goods, monuments, memorial sites and places of remembrance.