What is at stake for Culture in the EU’s next budget with AgoraEU?

The EU is designing a new programme for culture, media and civil society for 2028–2034. AgoraEU could become one of the most important funding frameworks for European culture, but its final shape is still being negotiated. When talking about European cultural funding, most people think of Creative Europe: cooperation projects, European networks, platforms, mobility and support for cultural and creative organisations. From 2028 onwards, however, the architecture is expected to change. The European Commission has proposed a new programme called AgoraEU, bringing together areas currently covered by Creative Europe and the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV). The proposal is part of the much broader negotiations around the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034. What is being decided now is therefore not simply the name of the next cultural programme. It is the structure through which European institutions will support culture, media, citizenship and democratic participation for the next seven years.

What is AgoraEU?

AgoraEU is proposed as a single programme covering three broad areas:

• culture;

• media and audiovisual sectors;

• democracy, citizens, equality, rights and values.

The Commission describes the programme as a way of supporting cultural and linguistic diversity, cultural and creative sectors, artistic and media freedom, democratic participation and fundamental rights. The programme would therefore be broader than today's Creative Europe. At the same time, culture would retain a recognisable place within the programme rather than being absorbed completely into a wider economic or innovation framework. That distinction matters. The EU's future budget is being designed around a strong emphasis on competitiveness, innovation, security and strategic autonomy. Against that background, AgoraEU represents one of the main spaces where culture is explicitly recognised as a policy field in its own right.

How much money is involved?

The Commission's original proposal allocated an indicative €8.6 billion to AgoraEU for 2028–2034. The figure has subsequently become part of the wider negotiations over the next EU budget. Importantly, the proposed budget is not simply a larger version of Creative Europe. It covers several policy areas and therefore needs to be considered in relation to how funding is divided between culture, media and the civic and democratic strands. According to the European Parliament Research Service, the Commission's proposal would allocate around €1.59 billion to culture and the cultural and creative sectors, €2.83 billion to media and €3.18 billion to CERV, in constant 2025 prices. This distinction is important when comparing figures across documents, since EU budget proposals may be expressed in current or constant prices and may refer either to the entire programme or to individual strands.

The Parliament wants a different programme

The European Parliament has pushed for a stronger and more detailed cultural dimension. Its position includes proposals concerning the protection of artists at risk, social and working conditions, disability inclusion, access to funding and simpler application procedures. It also proposes stronger provisions concerning artificial intelligence, including questions around human authorship, transparency, consent and remuneration. Another significant proposal is the introduction of more flexible mechanisms for smaller organisations, including regranting and operating support. These changes point towards a broader understanding of what cultural funding needs to achieve. The question is not only how many projects can be funded, but also whether the funding system itself is accessible to the organisations and professionals it is intended to support.

A question of sectoral balance

There is, however, another issue within the Parliament's position. The proposed architecture gives particular visibility to some cultural fields, including music and books, while other areas, such as performing arts, visual arts, design and crafts, do not necessarily receive the same degree of explicit recognition. This raises a broader question about how a European cultural programme should balance sector-specific needs with an inclusive definition of culture. Specific funding lines can protect sectors that require particular forms of support. But too much fragmentation can also create a hierarchy between cultural practices. The final design will therefore matter not only financially, but conceptually: what does the EU understand by culture, and which parts of the cultural ecosystem become visible within its funding architecture?

AgoraEU cannot do everything

Another point is easy to overlook. AgoraEU may be the EU's main dedicated programme for culture, but it is not the only programme that can shape the cultural sector. Research and innovation are dealt with through Horizon Europe. Digitalisation, business development and investment are increasingly connected to the proposed European Competitiveness Fund. Regional development, skills, social cohesion and international cooperation are addressed through other parts of the EU budget. This means that the future of European cultural policy cannot be understood by looking at the culture programme alone. A strong AgoraEU is important. But the position of culture outside AgoraEU may be just as significant.

Where are the negotiations now?

The Council adopted a partial negotiating position on AgoraEU on 12 May 2026. Its position leaves financial and horizontal issues open because those are being negotiated as part of the wider MFF. The Council's approach remains closer to the Commission's three-part structure, while the Parliament has proposed a number of additional changes. The final programme will therefore emerge from negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission. Until those negotiations are concluded, neither the final budget nor all of the programme's rules can be considered settled.

Why AgoraEU matters beyond funding?

There is a tendency to look at EU cultural programmes mainly through the question of eligibility: Can I apply? That is important, but it is not the whole story. European funding programmes also reveal how institutions understand a sector. They determine whether culture is treated primarily as an artistic practice, a public good, an economic ecosystem, a democratic resource, or —increasingly— all of these things at once. AgoraEU is therefore more than the successor to Creative Europe. It is part of a much larger reorganisation of the EU's priorities for the period 2028–2034. The final question is not simply how much money culture will receive. It is what kind of cultural ecosystem the European Union will choose to support… and where culture will be positioned within the wider European project.

Updated September 2026. The 2028–2034 EU budget and the final AgoraEU regulation are still under negotiation.

Sources & further reading

European Commission. Proposal for a Regulation establishing the AgoraEU programme for 2028–2034.EUR-Lex, AgoraEU legislative proposal

European Commission. EU budget 2028–2034.European Commission, EU budget 2028–2034

Council of the European Union. AgoraEU: Council agrees partial mandate on new programme to support culture, media and democratic values, 12 May 2026.Council of the EU. AgoraEU partial negotiating mandate

Council of the European Union. The EU's long-term budget for 2028–2034.Council of the EU. EU long-term budget 2028–2034

European Parliament. AgoraEU 2028–2034. Legislative Observatory, procedure 2025/0550(COD).European Parliament. AgoraEU legislative procedure

European Parliament. Legislative Train. Regulation establishing the AgoraEU programme for the 2028–2034 period.European Parliament. AgoraEU Legislative Train