Defend AgoraEU: Festivals’ action needed on the next EU budget
The negotiations on the EU’s next long-term budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, are entering a crucial phase as we approach the end of 2026. Festivals can support on two fronts: defending AgoraEU and securing a place for culture in the National and Regional Partnership Plans.
AgoraEU: a 30% cut has been proposed by the Irish Presidency of the Council
AgoraEU is the proposed future EU programme bringing together support for culture, media and civil society, replacing today’s Creative Europe programme. The Irish Presidency of the Council has proposed reducing its budget from the European Commission’s €8.6 billion to around €6 billion, a cut of approximately 30% against the Commission’s proposal and even higher if compared with the European Parliament proposal of €10.72 billion for AgoraEU. This is not an agreed final budget: negotiations remain open, and there is still time to influence the outcome. President António Costa is expected to present a revised negotiating proposal ahead of the 26 and 27 November Council summit.
Ahead of this Council summit, we encourage you to contact your ministers and ask them to defend AgoraEU.
Please write to your minister responsible for European Affairs (you can find their contacts here in pdf), copying your culture ministry and, where possible, your Prime Minister’s or chancellor’s office and Minister of Finances. Ask them to:
- Oppose the proposed 30% cut and defend at least the Commission’s €8.6 billion allocation for AgoraEU.
- Protect a strong, dedicated budget for culture within the programme, ensuring that the Culture strand does not fall below the Commission’s proposed 21% share.
Make the message concrete: explain what European cooperation enables your festival to do, which artists and communities benefit, and what would be at risk without sustained support. You can adapt this template letter to your national context. Members in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are particularly encouraged to act as these governments as pushing hardest for a smaller EU budget.
Get involved in your National and Regional Partnership Plan
Alongside AgoraEU, Member States are already preparing their National and Regional Partnership Plans, intended to support local and regional communities and cohesion. It is also important to secure a place for culture within these plans.
Please contact the ministry or authority coordinating your country’s plan, as well as your regional and local authorities. Ask about the drafting timetable, public consultations and stakeholder working groups, and request to be involved. You can work with other festivals and cultural organisations to put forward concrete proposals for cultural participation and cultural rights, showing how festivals can contribute.
We are doing our part in Brussels, but we need you.
From Brussels, we are doing as much as we can to keep festivals and culture on the agenda and make our collective voice heard. On 29 October, we joined more than 150 artists, cultural workers, journalists and civil society representatives at Schuman Square in Brussels to stand up for AgoraEU and oppose the proposed cuts. As EFA Secretary General Kathrin Deventer said at the protest: “It is time to act for the arts. Because arts is the lifeblood of Europe.” Read more in Culture Action Europe’s news about the protest.
But we cannot do this alone. Decisions on the EU budget depend on national governments, and your direct relationships, local experience and collective voice are indispensable. Our advocacy in Brussels needs your action at home.
Please contact your ministers and the authorities drafting your national plan as soon as possible, and let the EFA team know who you have approached and any responses you might receive. This will help us connect efforts across our members and make our message stronger.