Culture is being incorporated into Europe’s strategic agenda
With report COM(2026) 337 final, submitted to the Parliament and the Council on 2 July, the European Commission brings to a close the 2023–2026 Work Plan for Culture, established by the Council Resolution of December 2022. Formally an implementation report, drawn up on the basis of a survey conducted between February and March 2026 among Member States, it essentially marks a paradigm shift: culture has ceased to be a mere afterthought in EU policies and has entered the lexicon of security and competitiveness.
The Plan had its origins in a different world. Conceived in the wake of the pandemic, it was a response to the structural fragility of the cultural and creative sectors and the precarious working conditions of those employed in them. Then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine turned cultural heritage into a military target and culture itself into a weapon, to the extent that the Commission now speaks openly of its exploitation for military ends. Meanwhile, generative artificial intelligence was reshaping the conditions under which creators produce their work and are remunerated, whilst the energy crisis was altering the cost structure of museums and theatres. On the regulatory front, the Digital Services Act (EU Reg. 2022/2065), the Digital Markets Act and the AI Regulation have reshaped the digital environment for creators as well, whilst EU Regulation 2019/880 on the import of cultural goods has now been fully implemented by Member States, with bilateral agreements on information exchange and digital traceability tools to combat illicit trafficking.
The figures tell the story of a Europe that has responded. Creative Europe’s budget rose from 1.46 to 2.44 billion euros between the two programming cycles, an increase of 67 per cent. For Ukraine, special calls for proposals worth 12 million have been launched, with over 7.6 million secured by Ukrainian organisations through the programme’s other instruments, plus more than 700 thousand euros in mobility grants for around 360 artists and professionals, right up to the Team Europe Approach launched at the 2025 Ukraine Recovery Conference, which now comprises 76 actions from 24 Member States and supports the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund. Twenty-six out of twenty-seven governments responded to the evaluation questionnaire, and the open method of coordination – those groups of national experts that produce joint analyses and recommendations – proved to be the most highly regarded tool, deemed very suitable by 92 per cent of respondents. This method has produced reports on artists’ working conditions (2023), on culture and health, and on the green transition of the cultural sectors; the latter two were presented at Mondiacult in Barcelona in September 2025, with Italia co-chairing the green transition group alongside Ireland.
The most politically significant finding concerns the priorities for the next cycle: artificial intelligence received 79 per cent of the votes, crisis preparedness and asset security 67 per cent, whilst access to culture and strategic investments using innovative financial instruments – ranging from private capital to tax incentives – were tied at 50 per cent. This ranking was confirmed by the ministers of culture during the EYCS Council debate on 12 May 2026. It is worth dwelling on the second point. The Union’s preparedness strategy (JOIN(2025) 130) identifies cultural heritage as one of the nineteen vital social functions, alongside energy and telecommunications. Protecting a museum or a library is no longer a matter of sensitivity; it is a matter of defence. The Ukrainian experience has set a precedent, from the first national team of heritage rescuers trained with European funds and ICCROM support to the heritage protection module integrated into the EU Civil Protection Mechanism through the PROCULTHER projects.
The political sequence is clear. In November 2025, the Commission adopted the Compass for Culture, the first strategic framework to place culture at the heart of European policymaking, which was presented on the same day as the European Democracy Shield (JOIN(2025) 791). On 18 June 2026, the Parliament, the Council and the Commission signed the joint declaration ‘Europe for Culture, Culture for Europe’ (OJ C/2026/3440), an unprecedented tripartite political pact that respects national competences under Article 167 TFEU. On the financial front, the proposal for the AgoraEU programme and the European Competitiveness Fund, as part of the negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework, signal an intention to increase investment. Still in the pipeline are the European Charter for Artists, expected in 2027 and setting out principles and binding commitments at least for recipients of European funds; the periodic report on the state of culture in the Union, with a focus on artistic freedom; and the guidelines on culture, health and well-being, due by 2028. In this latter area, Italia is clearly lagging behind: ‘cultural prescription’, already trialled in several Member States and supported by evidence gathered by the OMC group in collaboration with the WHO, has not yet been recognised in law in Italy, whilst Ireland has made its basic income scheme for artists permanent, cited in the report as an example.
