IRISH TAX EXEMPTION SCHEME PRESERVED
Massive pressure from inside and outside Ireland (see ECA Newsletter 1/05) proved successful to a degree as the Irish government ultimately dropped its plans to abolish the tax exemption scheme for artists. In his budget speech for 2006, however, Finance Minister Cowen announced in December that the exemption would apply only up to € 250 000 in any single tax year.
As the cap will affect only a small number of high earners amounting to just two per cent of the total, most of the artists will be unaffected by the decision.
The letters of intervention, in which the ECA supported our Irish colleagues in their struggle, resulted in several answers from various Irish authorities, including the Prime Minister’s office and the culture ministry, ranging from non-committal affirmations that our concerns would “be borne in mind in the context of the current review of the tax exemption” to words of thanks expressed by the culture minister who stated he was committed to have the tax exemption scheme retained.
+++++
ECA STANDS UP FOR TURKISH WRITER ORHAN PAMUK
The ECA President Ludwig Laher, acting on behalf of the Executive Committee dispatched an open letter to Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan to express the ECA’s concern for the fate of Orhan Pamuk.
The prominent Turkish novelist, awarded the renowned German Book Trade Peace Prize in Frankfurt this October for his literary work in which "Europe and Islamic Turkey find a place for one another", is due to appear in court on December 16 on charges of having denigrated Turkish national identity by telling a Swiss newspaper that "one million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares to talk about it." For this statement, Orhan Pamuk faces a prison sentence from six months to as much as three years.
One of the cornerstones of the European Union, which Turkey desires to join after a successful completion of current negotiations, is the essential human right of freedom of speech. If Turkey’s state authorities deem that Mr Pamuk’s opinion does not reflect reality, they should offer substantiation of their objections.
Urging Turkey to respect and honour the principle of free speech, the European Council of Artists therefore demands that unwarranted charges against Orhan Pamuk be dropped immediately.
The trial of Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk has been halted on its first day, 16 December 2005. The next hearing was set for 7 February 2006.
+++++
NEW EUROPEAN ARREST WARRANT AND ARTISTS:
ECA COMMISIONS LEGAL BRIEF FROM AUSTRIAN EXPERT
Cases like that of the Austrian cartoonist Gerhard Haderer – sentenced in Greece for blasphemy after the publication of one of his books by a Greek publisher and threatened by the new European Arrest Warrant – prove that artists in the European Union face a grave problem.
As long as the freedom of artistic expression remains endangered by the existence of very diverse laws existing in EU member countries on offences classified as blasphemy, pornography or denigration of national identity (as in the case of Orhan Pamuk from Turkey which aspires to join the EU, see above) and so on, the new European Arrest Warrant facilitating extradition within the EU countries could leave artists quite vulnerable to possible prosecution outside their homeland.
The ECA has therefore asked the renowned Austrian lawyer Alfred Noll to prepare a legal brief on the issue. The report will become a springboard for further initiatives that should present the problem to the concerned public, the European governments and the MEPs and find appropriate solutions. In late January, the brief should be available on our website www.eca.dk.
+++++
NEW ECA GENERAL SECRETARY PIA RAUG APPOINTED
NARCY CALAMATTA & SIMON PELLAR ELECTED VICE-PRESIDENTS
According to the decision of the 2005 ECA Congress in Vilnius the Executive committee interviewed Pia Raug (Denmark) and became satisfied that she would be an excellent choice for the vacant office of the ECA General Secretary. Pia Raug has already started work.
The EC has elected its members Narcy Calamatta (Malta) and Simon Pellar (Czech Republic) ECA Vice-Presidents. The new President Ludwig Laher and the whole EC would like to thank all who have sent us congratulations and good wishes for our term.
+++++
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE: THE FINNS APPLY
Shortly before Christmas, the ECA received a letter from Harri Wessman, Chairman of the Finnish artists’ co-operation organ FORUM ARTIS ry. As Wessman emphasised, “the ECA is an important tool to influence policy makers at European level”. FORUM ARTIS, founded as early as 1950, therefore applies for a full voting membership.
According to the ECA Statutes, the application will be dealt with by the Executive Committee at its next meeting. The formal approval, however, is the prerogative of the 2006 ECA Congress.
We hope that the Finnish colleagues will not be the only ones joining the ECA this year. In early March, President Ludwig Laher will visit Liechtenstein where the ECA has over the past few months provided support to artists in their efforts to found an umbrella organisation.
Vice-President Simon Pellar has established contacts with the Slovak colleagues in order to bring the various associations to form a national umbrella. So far, Slovakia’s representation in the ECA remains limited to the SVU (Slovak Union of Visual Artists), itself an umbrella of 20 visual artists’ organisations.
+++++
ECA REPRESENTATION IN BRUSSELS: AIMING AT FIRST BASE
The ECA has been a member of the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD) almost since its foundation in 2000. In November 2005, the INCD contracted Antje Behrens to set up a small Brussels office.
Antje Behrens read law, holds a doctorate from the Free University in Berlin and has had a rich professional experience including work in the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European Commission, for the Senate of Berlin and the German Bundesrat (Federal Council) as well as for the German and French TV channel ARTE, where she was responsible for negotiations with the collecting societies.
Provided the ECA budget for 2006 will allow any further steps in this direction, the executive committee will invite Antje Behrens to the next meeting in March in order to find out if and how she could also work for the ECA interests in Brussels.
+++++
INCD ANNUAL MEETING IN DAKAR
In November 2005, ECA President Ludwig Laher who is also member of the International Network for Cultural Diversity Steering Committee participated in the sixth annual meeting of this important global NGO which convened in Dakar, Senegal. Referring to the WTO negotiations, the final declaration urges governments, among other things, to:
&Mac183; resist making commitments in areas that impact negatively on cultural activities, goods and services or constrain the sovereign right of governments to determine and implement their own cultural policies and measures;
&Mac183; work together in expressing collective positions in defence of cultural diversity, and in particular maintain their solidarity in opposing current proposals for minimum benchmarks and new tactics to pressure governments to make commitments in the GATS negotiations;
&Mac183; seek opportunities in regional and bilateral negotiations to include provisions into agreements that make the objectives and principles of the Convention meaningful and enforceable, for example in the current negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements between African, Caribbean and Pacific countries with the European Union under the 2000 Cotonou Agreements.
The full text of the declaration and much more information on the Dakar meeting and the INCD policies are available on the INCD website:
http://www.incd.net/events/Senegal_Dakar_05/Dakar%20Declaration_3.htm
+++++
READ UNESCO CONVENTION IN ANY OF SIX LANGUAGES
The text of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions is now available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese. Please consult the UNESCO website:
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=11281&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
+++++
ECA NEEDS ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP
Vice-President Narcy Calamatta has proposed to establish a pool of MEPs willing to cooperate with, and regularly receive information from, the ECA. The Executive Committee has therefore decided to ask all ECA member countries that are also members of the European Union to contact their MEPs, especially the ones in the cultural committee, and refer to us the names of those who are interested.
The EC likewise asks all members to submit to the Copenhagen office names and contacts of journalists who show interest in the work of artists’ associations on national and European levels. The impact we can have will largely depend on the commitment of the members.
Last but not least, ECA members are asked to pay their 2006 membership dues.
The Executive Committee of ECA
Ludwig Laher, writer, Austria, president
Narcy Calamatta, actor, Malta, vice president
Simon Pellar, translator, Czech Republic, vice president
Renate Christin, visual artist, Germany
Franz Ernst, filmdirector, Denmark
Agnes Péter, sculptor, Hungary
Tomo Vran, visual artist, Slovenia
European Council of Artists, Borgergade 111, DK-1300 Copenhagen K, Denmark
phone: +45-35384401, fax: +45-35384417, e-mail: eca@eca.dk, web: www.eca.dk
A