France expected to support Israel's inclusion in Creative Europe programme

Israel has asked France to support its request to join the EU's Creative Europe programme, which would open the door to millions of euros in funding.

The request was made during talks between the Israeli and French cultural ministers at the Cannes Film Festival, and France is expected to agree to Israel’s request, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. 

Israel’s application to join the EU's Creative Europe programme is set to be considered in the coming days. 

The Creative Europe programme would allow Israel to apply for millions of euros of funding for cultural and artistic projects.

However, none of the money can be used to support projects happening in territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

During their talks, Israeli cultural minister Chili Tropper, and French cultural minister Roselyne Bachelot discussed means of expanding cooperation between the two countries on cultural projects, as well as increasing joint film productions. 

“I was happy to meet an important partner of Israel in promoting Israeli culture and creation,” said Tropper.

“I've asked the minister to support the Creative Europe agreements, which would significantly help expand the cooperation between both countries,” he added.

Creative Europe offers 1.46 billion euros every seven years to thousands of artists, cultural schemes, films, and literary projects. 

The European Union has entered into other similar funding agreements with Israel, which are also prohibited from being used in territories occupied in 1967.

In 2013, when he held the position of Israel's economy minister, current Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett secured funding for science and technology projects from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. 

Bennett oversaw the inclusion of an addendum to the agreement, which stipulated that while Israeli recognised the EU’s conditions regarding funding limits, it simultaneously rejected the EU’s opposition to funding projects in illegal West Bank settlements. 

It is believed that Israel’s inclusion in the Creative Europe programme will include a similar addendum.