§ Baroness Flatherasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of the Culture Council on 16th December 1996.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of National Heritage (Lord Inglewood)EU Ministers of Culture met on 16th December 1996 in Brussels. Ministers agreed a resolution on the integration of cultural aspects into other Community actions. The purpose of this resolution is to give effect to article 128(4) of the Treaty on European Union.
Ministers held an exchange of views on the proposal for a directive amending the Television Without Frontiers Directive and on the proposal to establish a European Guarantee Fund to promote cinema and 128WA television production. The council held an exchange of views on the development of new audiovisual services and adopted conclusions welcoming the European Commission's Green Paper on the protection of minors and human dignity in the audiovisual and information services. Ministers held an exchange of views on the issue of violence in the media.
Ministers noted that the conciliation process with the European Parliament on the Ariane and Raphael programmes would now be convened under the Dutch Presidency.
An exchange of views was held on a number of further issues, including music, book pricing and the European Cities of Culture. Plovdiv was selected to host the Cultural Month 1999. Ministers also touched on the issues of cultural funding, authors' rights and cross-media ownership.