Ahead of the European Council of the 15th and 16th October, more than 600 organisations across different sectors joined forces to send the governments a clear message: Europe need a strong AgoraEU, the proposed new programme to support culture, media and journalism, and civil society.

In a context of growing disillusionment and fracturing communities, AgoraEU supports organisations and spaces that bring people together across territories, to make their voices heard and participate with equal opportunities and without discrimination. Stronger, more resilient communities are the backbone of any functioning democracy and cohesive society: with its relatively limited budged compared to the whole MFF, AgoraEU is an investment in Europe’s resilience, independence and innovation. 

That is why we call the governments to reject the disproportionate cuts to the programme proposed by the Irish Presidency: for a saving of a mere 0.2% of the total budget, the damage to Europe’s resilience would be exponential and potentially irreversible.

Read the full letter and the signatories here