Issued by Culture Action Europe and co-signatory members in October 2024
“As members of Culture Action Europe, we would like to express our growing concern over the increasing political intervention by governments in the work of cultural organisations across Europe. We acknowledge efforts of the EU to ensure freedom of expression for arts and media, and call upon Articles 11 and 13 of the European Charter of Human Rights and Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union to safeguard this basic human right. We therefore strongly condemn the many egregious restrictions on artistic freedom, freedom of expression, and organisational autonomy, a trend that is gaining traction in several European countries.
34% of respondents in the ‘Creative Pulse’ survey indicated that they have been either significantly or somewhat affected by limitations on their freedom of artistic expression.
Freedom of artistic expression and artistic autonomy are increasingly under pressure from political parties, as well as anti-democratic political and social movements. In light of the rise of far-right parties and recent instances of constraints on artistic freedom, we anticipate a growing use of censorship as a default mechanism, which we unequivocally reject. “