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The title of this page implies that
there is a common regional standpoint. But we do not anticipate one, instead
of that we provoke thinking. Maybe there is common ground, maybe there is not.
Maybe the interests of the transitional countries in east-central Europe show
enough similarities to justify for a joint stand in the issue, maybe not.
The answer does not depend entirely
on objective analysis. Sometimes it is a question of opinions and assumptions.
Let us illustrate this on the following.
The film industries in our region are staggering. From the point of view of
world trade, two opposing strategies can be described. (Of course these are
abstract examples which never exist in clear form.)
Protectionism: Establish
minimum quotas for national films in cinemas and on television. And maximum
quotas for the vigorous foreign rivals. Charge special levies and import duties
to the latter and use the income for making films of your own.
Liberalism: Seek
for ways of integrating your fledgling home industry into the mainstream of
the world. Attract as many filmmakers into your country as possible, both as
investors and as paying users of your facilities.
In principle, the two strategies
can exist in the same country side by side. In reality, the second largely excludes
the first. The market leaders will not bring you their resources and know-how
unless they can sell their products, too. Since you cannot divide your country
into a protectionist half and a liberal half (as a control group), there is
no way of objective testing as to the relative advantages of one or other approach.
This is where the decision-makers' subjective assumptions come in.
There are several factors which imply
that the east-central European countries are in a similar situation with regard
to their cultures and the global trade:
- They have limited potentials to
become world market leaders in any of the cultural industries.
- Their national economies are still
vulnerable either because of their strength (i.e. weakness) or their size
(i.e. smallness).
- Their value systems are lacking
the stability of the consolidated democracies, in other words, their public
is prone to give in to foreign influences, probably to a greater extent than
in Western Europe.
Do you agree with this?
The actual state of diversification
of the region may imply that the diverging factors in
this issue are greater,
than the converging ones. If so, what makes one country occupy a different attitude
than the other:
- Strength and size of the economy?
- Different conception of culture?
- Something else?
Our answers may be different
by sectors. Different strategy may apply to the protection and promotion of
our publishing industries from our audiovisual fields.
And what about the Internet?
This short question underlines the complexity of the issue. No wonder that neither
the Council of Europe nor the European Union have arrived
at a stable standpoint.
At this stage, as you see,
instead of, or better to say: before presenting the case of east-central Europe,
we ask for your contributions: mail to
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.
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The
General Affairs Council of the European Union, at its meeting on 26 October
1999 gave the Commission a mandate which stipulates that "during the forthcoming
WTO negotiations the Union will ensure, as in the Uruguay Round, that
the Community and its Member States maintain the right to preserve and
to develop their capacity to define and implement their cultural and audiovisual
policies for the purpose of preserving their cultural diversity".
See also the broadcasting
policy of the Union.
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