[Translation.] Many thanks. I will come back to the AV part first of all. Honestly, I think there will be a great debate about the definition. However, it's quite likely that the UK will still be included in the European definition, because, within this definition, I think there are 43 or 47 countries, so many more than just the European Union. And there are countries such as Turkey, Serbia and neighbouring countries, with which we are exchanging, possible future membership to the EU—Ukraine is another one that's very important.
[Translation.] So, these cultural co-operations, through AV, are still important. This co-operation represents cultural links with neighbouring states and states that could be members of the EU in the future. And they are states where freedom of expression is not always guaranteed. And through being able to benefit from European productions, this helps democracy—they give perspectives and prospects to artists that are not always heard in their own countries.
[Translation.] As far as the UK is concerned, we had a lot of passion at the moment when the UK exited the EU, but, since then, in the following months, with the new context of the war in Ukraine, we have noticed that the discourse has changed. There is your Prime Minister, a change, there are new discourses and new discussions focusing on fundamental things, such as the European continent's security, faced with new aggressions, and there are new programmes, for example, a very important one, which is Horizon Europe. You probably know about it, and this focuses on innovation. All of this means that the environment, the ecosystem, currently is not the same as it was when Michel Barnier negotiated the trade and co-operation agreement.
[Translation.] So, the international world situation is very serious, and this means that we had to adapt the way we envisage collaboration, for example on defence and the security of our continent. And this goes hand in hand with programmes such as Horizon Europe, which focuses on innovation. But I'm hearing a few things about Erasmus also. It's not quite clear yet. This is a minority programme within the sector of culture, but this will nonetheless not be forgotten.
[Translation.] And as you are asking, 'Well, how can we reignite links with the British cultural sector?', well, the link does exist—not at a political level, no, but at the level of the actors themselves. So, with cultural workers, between Europe and the UK, these links are very strong and numerous. The difficulty we faced was mobility and exchanges. Indeed, the closing down of borders created many problems for artists' mobility in both directions. This had a real impact on the way we used to build our relationships and our partnerships.
[Translation.] I'm sorry, I'm going back to my notes. I've got some more precise and accurate information to share with you. So, what did I want to tell you about this? Indeed, what we were faced with were administrative burdens for our EU artists and, exactly in the same way, for British artists, because the costs and visa administration are very heavy. The visa and travel requirements are stringent. Ninety days is the limit, which means that, during touring, artists must come back to their country to then rejoin the tour, which means that some of the less structured artists, the new, emerging artists, are finding this administration particularly stringent and difficult to overcome.
[Translation.] There is another topic about taxes on merchandising, because the performing arts is fed by merchandising sales also. And this created a real problem for our festivals and our concert halls in Europe. It is now very difficult to book British artists and, as we said, new, independent artists are particularly vulnerable. And there is also an impact on the audience at large, because you have very popular recognised artists, and we don't really have as much access to them any longer. And the trend seems to be the same on the UK side. The number of European artists has halved since Brexit. This is a huge loss, which is beyond the return on investment. This is a great loss to cultural exchanges for the EU and for the UK.
[Translation.] So, I broadened the question somewhat, but the political context is evolving, which means that our relationships are also evolving. The cultural sector is faced with real administrative and heavy burdens. However, we want to renew the links in the future.