The road from Croatia to Brussels passes through culture as well. Last week, the EU Commission had said it wanted to close the accession files by 2009, suggesting Zagreb might join the EU in 2010. Today, the Media Commissioner Viviane Reding and the ambassador Branko Baricevic, head of the Croatian mission to the EU, have signed a memorandum of understanding "under which Croatia will be the first nominee for the Media 2007 Programme". "I am glad about Croatia being in this programme" "which shows the country is willing to proactively participate in the promotion of the European audiovisual industry and the cultural diversity of our continent". Reding added: "Such participation will boost a more proactive cooperation between the Croatian film industry and those of the EU member states". With this new programme, the Media partners (Media has been allocated 755 million euros for 20072013) will rise to 32: the 27 EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland. As the other non-EU states, Croatia will contribute 127 thousand euros in 2008, which will rise to 139 thousand in 2013.
