About the ECCD

The European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity was created in 2005 as an informal network to welcome the adoption of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in October 2005 and to work on its ratification by the European community in December 2006.

In its first achievements, ECCD has also campaigned to protect cultural diversity, ensuring that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiating mandate does not risk prejudicing the Union’s cultural and linguistic diversity, including in the audiovisual and cultural services sector.

Since its creation, the ECCD defends that cultural diversity plays an important part in our democracy, ensuring that the voices and stories from all our communities are told and seen widely. This fosters a better understanding and cohesion and helps to ensure that decision makers can make public policy reflecting the needs of all communities. To carry out its missions, the ECCD monitor EU policies in order to provide its members a legislative expertise and cooperate with EU institutions to share its inputs from the cultural and creative sector.

Since 2013, the ECCD is an official association.

FICDC

ECCD is a member of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (IFCCD) bringing together 43 coalitions worldwide and representing 600 cultural professional organisations.

Missions

To promote and support

the 2005 UNESCO Convention through sustainable cultural policies which enhance the diversity of cultural expression.

To defend

A cultural exception whenever it is threatened, particularly during trade negociations.
Creator’s social rights.
Authors’ and artists’ freedom of movement.
Authors’ rights.

To modernize

Funding schemes to support the production of local creative works in the digital era.
Regulation of digital sector in favor of European creation.

Main activities

ECCD’s main activities are to inform, explain, communicate through professional and political meetings, debates, press releases and mobilisation of creators and professionals. We have campaigned especially on the following actions.

UNESCO Convention

ECCD welcomed the adoption of the UNESCO Convention for the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions in October 2005 and its rapid implementation in March 2007, after it was ratified by the European community and the 12 member States in December 2006. Since then, ECCD calls for a massive ratification of the Convention, particularly by the EU member States which have not done so yet.

European Forum for Culture

ECCD contribute biennally to the European Culture Forum. Organised by the European Commission, it aims at raising the profile of European cultural cooperation, uniting the sector's key players, taking stock of the implementation of the European Agenda for Culture, and sparking debate on EU culture policy and initiatives. ECCD actively took part in the last edition in September 2020 in Amsterdam.

Protection of audiovisual agreement

ECCD ensure that audiovisual agreements are properly excluded from Free Trade Agreements. For instance, ECCD sounded the alert to the fact that audiovisual services were included in the Free Trade Agreement negotiated between the EU and Ukraine and on the widespread EU practice of attaching cultural cooperation protocols to bilateral or regional trade agreements (Korea, Andean community, Canada, India…)

EU Regulation

ECCD supported the 2018 revision of the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive to include a 30% quota of local and European audiovisual programmes and films in video-sharing platforms catalogues. ECCD also campaigned to include provisions to ensure the promotion and prominence of national and European audiovisual works in video-sharing platforms catalogues, to defend the territoriality of rights or to strengthen the responsibility of digital services towards European creators. Overall, ECCD is an important stakeholder advocating for the regulation of digital platforms to protect copyright and the creative and cultural sectors, in all their diversity.

The Chair

Carole Tongue, is a former Member of the European Parliament for London East (from 1984 to 1999) and Deputy Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (from 1989 to 1991). From 1994 to 1999 she was Coordinator for the Socialist Group on Culture, Media, Sport, Education and Youth. She was also spokesperson on public service broadcasting. In this role, in 1995, she established a TV/Film consortium of trades unions and creators’ organisations. In 1996, the Parliament adopted her Report on Public Service Broadcasting in the Multichannel Digital Age. This led to the inclusion of a protocol protecting public service broadcasting in the 1997 EU Amsterdam Treaty.

Carole is Chair of the UK Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions since 2005 when she founded the Coalition with Holly Aylett to implement the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions.

In December 2014, she was appointed President of the European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ECCD). In 2015 she founded and chaired Creatives4Europe, an organisation representing all branches of the creative industries/arts and culture (under the auspices of the European Movement) to campaign for a Remain vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum.

Board

2021 – 2023

AustriaAustrian Commission for UNESCO — Klara Kostal
BelgiumCoalition belge francophone pour la diversité culturelle — Tanguy Roosen
FranceCoalition française pour la diversité culturelle — Pascal Rogard
GermanyBundesweite Koalition für Kulturelle Vielfalt — Friederike Kamm
PortugalColigação Portuguesa de Diversidade Cultural — Helena Vasques de Carvalho
SwedenKLYS - Swedish Joint Committee for Artistic and Literary Professionals — Ulrica Källén
SwitzerlandCoalition suisse pour la diversité culturelle — Beat Santschi
United KingdomUK coalition for cultural diversity — Carole Tongue

Members

Observers

  • TURKEY

    Sheran ADA

  • UKRAINE

    Ihor SAVCHAK

Scroll to Top