The European Council has allocated an overall budget of 400 million euros to the EU Programme for Culture for the period 2007-2013. The Programme is the successor of the Culture 2000 Programme, which is now completing the projects funded during the previous seven-year period. The motto of the new Culture Programme is “crossing borders – connecting cultures”, in support of its central objective of “enhancing the cultural space that is common to Europeans through the development of activities of cooperation between cultural creators, performers and institutions to encourage the realization of European citizenship”. There are three specific objectives: promoting transnational mobility; encouraging the circulation of cultural and artistic works and products; and encouraging intercultural dialogue. The programme, co-managed by Brussels and by the national “Culture” contact points, funds activities and events in three sectors: support for cultural activities (60% of the total budget); support for organizations active at the European level in the cultural sector (10%); and support for works of analysis, for the collection and diffusion of information and for activities that optimise the impact of projects in the sector of cultural cooperation (5%).
