European Commission, trade agreements and diversity of cultural expressions: Between autonomy and influence

Abstract

The Convention on diversity of cultural expressions -adopted by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2005 -is a main international instrument within the global governance of cultural and audiovisual industries. For its part, the European Commission played a critical role in the negotiation, leading to the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions' adoption. In this respect, the article aims to explore why and how the Commission uses the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions throughout the recent European Union trade negotiations, for which purposes and how the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions influences the European Union foreign policy and its objectives. The article is more concerned with analysing the policy process through which the Commission's strategy is formulated in light of the Convention on Diversity of Cultural Expressions and of the place of cultural and audiovisual industries within the European Union trade agreements and also concerned with understanding whether the Commission's autonomy is transformed into influence within the policy process.

European Union and online platforms in global audiovisual politics and economy: Once Upon a Time in America?

“…First, the recent EU initiatives lack social support. As demonstrated by several studies (Loisen and De Ville, 2011;Garner, 2017;Vlassis, 2016a), he mentioned initiatives illustrate a top-down approach without clear links to the European organisations of cultural professionals. The top-down building of the Protocols on Cultural Cooperation -based on Commission's initiative -hinders effective implementation of their provisions, leaving aside the main actors of the implementation, such as EU national governments and EU culture organisations (European Centre for Development Policy Management, 2011; European Commission, 2014).…”

“…Second, the balance between intergovernmentalism method and Community action leads to another factor (Ang et al 2015;Vlassis, 2016a). Clearly, the relationship between Commision and several national governments, such as French authorities, is based on a constant suspision related to the treatment of cultural goods and services in trade agreements.…”

“…Moreover, the Protocol on Cultural Cooperation with South Korea was strongly criticised by French government. The latter denounced that the Commission intended to include the cultural and audiovisual industries within the agenda of negotiations in order to use them as a selling point for proceeding with trade deals and gain concessions in other economic areas (Vlassis, 2016a).…”

The creative economy as a versatile policy script: exploring the role of competing intergovernmental organizations

“…More concretely, the treatment of cultural and audiovisual services within the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services was a deeply divisive issue during the 1990s (Loisen and Pauwels, 2015; Vlassis, 2015b). As such, the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (hereafter CDCE) adopted by UNESCO in 2005 was a response to the threat from the international trade regime pushing for further liberalization of the cultural sector (De Beukelaer et al, 2015; Singh, 2011b; Vlassis, 2016). Second, UNCTAD aimed to have a UN report based on a development-oriented approach, whereas according to the UNCTAD interviewees, the WTO approach was more free-trade oriented, largely favouring the interests of developed countries.…”

Legal Protection of Traditional Cultural Expression as a Regional Asset in Yogyakarta

“…Management in Yogyakarta Currently in Yogyakarta, there is no available regulation such as Local Regulations for implementation of inventory and documentation activities [3], [4].. Efforts to protect EBT in Yogyakarta have been done preventively through legal protection. Thislegal protection which is provided by the government aims to prevent EBT prior to the violation, by conducting inventory and documentation process on EBT [14]. In addition to the cultural inventory in Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta Cultural Office has maintained the existence of a number of these cultures by giving regular rewards to cultural actors such as Cultural…”