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Cultural mobility and cross-border cultural cooperation must be preserved in future relations

The European Social partners of the Live Performance Social Dialogue Committee (Pearle*-Live Performance Europe, and the EAEA – representing FIA, FIM, EURO-MEI) call upon the EU Task Force, the EU Member States and the UK government to ensure that cultural mobility and cross-border cultural cooperation will not be damaged because of the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

Social partners call for attention to be paid to the specific place of culture in the discussions on the future relations between the EU and the UK.

Concretely, in order to continue to make performances and concerts possible at festivals, venues, theatres, etc. it is essential to include specific provisions to facilitate this in areas such as social security and posting, work permits or visas, temporary export of goods and customs, travelling with musical instruments which contain protected species (Cites). In all of those cases it concerns (very) short periods of mobility, which should not be threatened by disproportionate rules and conditions.

Touring is a key feature for the sector and enables the maximum exploitation of productions and for memorable performances to be shared with a broad European audience. Performers and creative workers of all kinds therefore risk a negative impact on their careers if their ability to work freely between the UK and EU is curtailed. This in turn will have repercussions on these industries which are of great financial and cultural importance to the UK and EU.

The European Sectoral Social partners in the Live Performance sector urge careful consideration of these sectoral needs in the course of negotiations on the future relations between EU and UK after 2020, to avoid an outcome that will devastate performers’ and other creative workers’ careers and incomes, and jeopardise the quality and sustainability of Live Performance production between the UK and EU.

The European social partners also believe it is important to continue to ensure that the same standards in working conditions are maintained for live performance workers post-Brexit. Any future trade deal between the EU and UK should therefore also include a commitment from the UK not to fall behind the EU in relation to employment rights.