State aids: An exemption rule for film funds?
In the guidelines for state aid policies approved by the European Commission on the 7th of June, the Commission explicitly refers to a possibility for film funds to benefit from an exemption rule (§ 62): 'The Commission may ask the Council to extend the gambit of the current regulations so as to allow the cinema to be one of the exempted categories.'
This unambiguous phrasing is a first step towards a solution to finally end the debate on state aids for films. The professionals, for whom this issue is crucial at this time, would have preferred that support has been totally secured. According to many professional unions, the current procedures are not at all reliable.
Pascal Rogard, General Secretary of the French Authors and Composers' Society (the SACD), believes that 'the entire sector is keen to try and claim an exemption rule, or at least to have the issue seriously examined.' For that matter, professionals unions intend to raise the question before the governments of all member-states as soon as possible.
(Translated from Italian)
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