Europeana - the next steps

Europeana, the EU's online library, museum and archive, was launched in 2008 at the initiative of the European Commission.

To boost its utilisation, its search engine and interface need to be improved.

In addition, the various Member States' contributions to Europeana are still far from evenly balanced, and it remains unclear how to include orphan works and other forms of copyrighted material.

Finally, sustainable Europeana needs to be guaranteed a sustainable source of financing.

The Greens believe that the mass digitisation of fragile works like books and certain audiovisual products is essential to preserve this European heritage.

We are also in favour of a campaign designed to increase the usage of and bolster support for Europeana once the necessary improvements have been made.

Overall, the Greens were satisfied with the result of the negotiations.

Since education and culture are largely national competences and the EU only serves as a facilitator between the Member States, conflict over issues in these domains is rare.