The Culture Compass for Europe, published by the European Commission in November 2025, is a strategic framework for the cultural and creative sectors. It provides a roadmap for harnessing the full potential of Europe’s rich cultural diversity along four main axes: upholding and strengthening European values and cultural rights; empowering artists and cultural professionals; leveraging Europe’s culture and cultural heritage to increase competitiveness, resilience and cohesion; and championing international cultural relations and partnerships.

 

The EESC Opinion notes that the Compass is a timely strategy promoting European cultural values and emphasises the role of culture as a vector to defend democracy and enhance social cohesion. To boost its impact, the Opinion calls for a clearly defined action plan when implementing the flagship actions and programmes announced in the Culture Compass. It also recommends the inclusion of a variety of stakeholders in operationalising the Compass, and CECOP urges the Institutions to embed cooperative organisations active in the culture and creative sectors in the implementation of the Compass.

 

We are glad to see that the Opinion recognises the role cooperatives play in the sector and calls for integrating them into national and regional cultural policies. Moreover, CECOP welcomes that it encourages the further development of the Social Economy Action Plan and the recognition of social economy actors, such as cooperatives, as institutional partners.

 

The EESC Opinion also recognises the importance of financial support and calls for the allocation of 2% of the budget of the next Multiannual Financial Framework to culture. Moreover, we are particularly glad that the EESC encourages adapting financial instruments to reflect and increase the value that cultural and community-based social economy actors, including cooperatives, already generate.   

 

The Opinion notes that artistic work is often characterised by freelance work which may lack adequate social protection. As CECOP Secretary General Diana Dovgan pointed it out in her intervention at the EESC hearing on the Opinion, cooperatives have developed solutions to these challenges, such as cooperatives of the self-employed or freelancers, e.g., the Belgian cooperative, Smart, or the Italian Doc Servizi, where the freelancers active in the arts and creative industries own and control the enterprise, mutualising services and costs, while continuing benefiting from autonomy and flexibility. More information can be found in the CECOP report, All for One.

 

The Culture Compass for Europe is a key step towards strengthening cultural democracy and fostering creative freedoms, and as the Opinion points it out, culture is a powerful tool to promote democracy and counter authoritarian practices. We see that for many creative workers, cooperatives represent a means to guarantee freedom of speech and editorial independence, demonstrated by the growing number of media, publishing houses or music labels choosing the cooperative model across Europe. As cooperatives active in the cultural and creative sectors are fully aligned with the values promoted by the Culture Compass, they are keen partners in working towards achieving the goals of the Compass.