Advancing the European audiovisual sector through external action: agreements and funding in the EU enlargement region

Audiovisual cooperation is a formally recognized component of the European Union’s (EU) external cultural action, grounded in the EU Treaties and the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. This article examines audiovisual cooperation between the EU and candidate and potential candidate countries, situating it within the framework of EU enlargement policy. It analyses how the EU employs international agreements, specifically Stabilisation and Association Agreements (SAAs) with the Western Balkans and Association Agreements (AAs) with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as its funding tools, to promote legal convergence and foster policy alignment and sectoral integration through partnership. By examining the audiovisual cooperation provisions of the SAAs and AAs under study and the Media strand of Creative Europe, which is designed to enhance the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector, and drawing on insights from expert interviews, the article explores how the EU seeks to advance a broader, integrated European audiovisual space, with the aim of promoting cultural diversity alongside EU industrial objectives.