Benefits of enhancing cultural cooperation with the EU: evidence from Scottish stakeholders
This paper covers the Scottish Government stance on the benefits of enhancing cultural cooperation with the EU based on evidence from Scottish stakeholders. Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture sent the paper to the UK Government on 19 March 2026.
At the last Interministerial Group on UK-EU Relations, Angus Robertson, the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, offered to provide evidence to the UK Government from Scottish stakeholders on the benefits of enhanced cultural cooperation.
The Scottish Government’s priorities for negotiations between the UK and the EU include both rejoining Creative Europe (and at this point its successor programme Agora EU) as well as seeking better conditions for touring artists, in support of the Scottish creative sectors.
The Scottish Government has called for this consistently both at ministerial and official level. We provided evidence to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in early 2025 on Creative Europe, as well as covering cultural cooperation in three of our position papers in 2025:
- Scottish Government priorities for UK-EU negotiations: position paper
- Creative Europe reassociation: position paper
- Addressing barriers to trade with the EU: position paper
The creative industries generated £3.8 billion in exports in 2021 (4.7% of Scotland’s total exports). Of this, £680 million (18%) was to the EU, highlighting the sector’s reliance on European markets.