20 November Culture Council

Date: 23/11/1995

A LONG-RUNNING battle over whether to impose new limits on the number of foreign programmes shown on European television screens has ended. After months of argument between member states in favour of tightening the current quota system and those calling for its abolition, culture ministers decided to leave broadcasting rules as they are. Under the Television Without Frontiers Directive, television stations are obliged to broadcast at least 51&percent; of home-made programmes but only “where practicable” - allowing broadcasters to get around the rules. France had hoped to close this legal loophole, but was forced to abandon its ambitions in the face of opposition from countries such as Germany and the UK. As a token gesture to soften the humiliation, ministers decided to set up a committee to ensure the proper implementation of existing rules, which will come up for review again in five years.

NINE cities will ring in the next century as European culture capitals, ministers decided. Faced with a bevy of countries each clamouring for the title, Europe's culture captains have decided to share out the glory normally reserved for a single city. Bologna, Prague, Santiago de Compostela, Bergen, Brussels, Avignon, Helsinki, Reykjavik and Krakow have all been named cities of culture for the year 2000.

MINISTERS paid homage to Medieval culture gurus this week by opening an exhibition to mark the introduction of classical and oriental wisdom into Europe. The exhibition, one of the Spanish presidency's main cultural showpieces, portrays the work of a translation school in the Spanish town of Toledo, where “Arabic numerals” are said to have made their European debut. Classics such as those written by Aristotle, Archimedes, Ptolemy and Hippocrates were put into common currency by translators from the academy.