Rachida Dati and the sensitive issues of culture

Special edition Monday September 23: with the new government taking office, Tout Public looks back at the issues left pending at the Ministry of Culture during the dissolution of the National Assembly.

With the reappointment of Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, many issues are waiting to be taken up again. Among them, the budget allocated to culture, the maintenance of the Culture Pass, and the question of financing and the merger of the audiovisual sector.

Nicolas Dubourg, president of Syndeac, the national union of artistic and cultural enterprises, paints a rather unflattering picture of the cultural sector. He denounces “drastic budget cuts [de la culture]”which lead to both “a decrease in the number of shows”and a drop in activity for performing artists.

“(…) This year, there are fewer broadcasts, that is to say shows that were created, (…) that were supposed to play, and which will not play.”

Nicolas Dubourg

franceinfo

Regarding the Culture Pass and its effectiveness, Nicolas Dubourg remains doubtful about its ability to reach a new audience, far removed from access to culture. Regarding an internal survey conducted at the level of the labeled scenes, he denounces “a real joke”. In fact, young people who use the Pass are “very few”and already have privileged access to culture.

The major issue that Rachida Dati will also have to tackle is the audiovisual sector, since with the end of the audiovisual license fee in 2022 and the imminent end of its financing by VAT, the thorny question of the independence of the public audiovisual sector and its financing is raised.

For Laurent Lafon, senator and president of the culture committee, the financing of the audiovisual sector is one of the emergencies to be dealt with, since it is on December 31, 2024 that the VAT levy, on which the financing of public audiovisual is currently based, will cease. However, he maintains that the extension of this financing is necessary, in order to secure it and to ensure that it is not “subject to budgetary uncertainties [du gouvernement].”

Subject “priority” According to the senator, the issue of merging the audiovisual entities is a matter of debate. For those who think that common governance is necessary between the different entities, moving directly to the state of merger, as Minister Rachida Dati wants, is hasty. A discussion that must therefore be continued between the Senate and the National Assembly in the coming weeks, not to mention those with the unions, who do not all view this reform of public audiovisual media in a good light.

A program with the participation of Thierry Fiorile, journalist in the culture department of franceinfo.