Covid-19: in Europe, cultural industries badly damaged
A protester holding up an “Opera is work” sign during a demonstration against the closure of cultural and sports venues in Milan, Italy on October 30, 2020. AP - Claudio Furlan
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Classified as non-essential activities, culture is nevertheless a major engine of the European economy.
This is what emerges from the study published Tuesday, January 26 by the audit firm Ernst & Young, which points out that since the start of the health crisis, the sector has lost 31% of its turnover in Europe.
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The weight of cultural industries in Europe is considerable.
In 2019, culture, which represents seven million people, generated 643 billion euros in revenue, or 4.4% of the European Union's GDP.
A third of turnover gone up in smoke
Marc Lhermitte, partner at Ernst & Young, underlines that
the sector is currently devastated
: “
Between 2019 and 2020, the turnover of this large cultural economy which made growth, which created employment - 700,000 over the last 5 years -, lost 31% of its turnover, almost a third of its value.
It is among the sectors most affected by the crisis.
Unfortunately, it is on par with air transport, which lost about as much turnover in 2020 compared to 2019. It is much more than tourism, much more than the automobile or the aeronautical universe.
"
Unlock funds
Today very weakened by the health crisis, it is urgent for the European Union to release funds to support culture.
Marc Lhermitte estimates that of the 750 billion euros of
the European recovery plan
, Brussels could allocate 2%, or 15 billion euros, to the cultural sector.
► See also: Senegal: the desperation of cultural players in the face of the Covid-19 crisis
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