Impact Study: UNESCO-Aschberg Programme for Artists and Cultural Professionals

Putting funding structures in place

Because the EPA provides multiple market access opportunities for CARIFORUM States, the general sentiment at the EU level is that it is up to CARIFORUM partners to make use of them. At the same time, since the EPA was signed in 2008, the EU has worked to put the agreement into practice by funding different EPA implementation structures throughout the Caribbean – be it through national trade ministries, the CARIFORUM Directorate at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat or through initiatives at the industry level, by helping businesses meet EU environmental or health standards. While these initiatives are positive and have successfully assisted CARIFORUM States in meeting their tariff reduction obligations, culture has not been specifically targeted. It is also critical to note that the PCC does not contain any provisions ensuring financial support for its implementation and the European Commission has not made any funds available for the specific purpose of promoting cooperation between the EU and CARIFORUM cultural sectors. This said, the European Commission has several funding programmes that can be used to put some of the EPA’s cultural provisions into practice, despite not having been specifically designed for this purpose. Critical among these is the European Development Fund (EDF). The EDF was launched in 1959 and is the main EU instrument for providing development aid to ACP countries and overseas countries and territories (OCTs). It is now in its 11 th edition, spanning from 2014 to 2020 24 and as mentioned above, includes funds earmarked for the creative sector to support cultural industries and to improve access to European markets for ACP cultural goods and services.

42 Culture in the CARIFORUM-EU EPA

24. 160 million EUR were available for 10 th EDF, 346 million EUR for the 11 th EDF.