§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is the timetable for further public meeting proceedings on EC document 6398/94.
§ Mr. DorrellThe European Commission's Green Paper on European Audio-visual policy raised wide-ranging issues about the future of the European programme production industry and the measures which member states and the European Community should take to promote and strengthen it.
In the light of the response to the document, and of the audio-visual conference held in Brussels on 30 June to 1 July, the Commission on 8 February adopted a proposal for a new programme, media II, to replace the existing EC media programme, and this has now been communicated to the Council. Discussions between member states on the proposal, which will be deposited for parliamentary scrutiny in the usual way, have now begun in an ad hoc Council working group. I cannot say when they will be completed. We expect the Commission to bring forward further proposals arising from the Green Paper in due course.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards the EU's media II programme; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DorrellWe have yet to receive the Commission's formal proposal. Although we broadly support, the approach set out in an informal text, for a more focused programme, which concentrates resources on training, development and distribution, we have yet to agree details of how media II would be implemented.