In a discussion with report writer Ole Reitov, Freemuse, the minister was joined in the radio studio by Cecilia Magnusson, a leading member of the Cultural Committee of the Swedish Parliament.

Ms Magnusson welcomed the ‘white paper’ and said that “the report is extremely interesting and contains many very good recommendations.” The MP mentioned ‘certification of organisers’ as one of the interesting proposals of the report.

Affecting the industry
‘Visa / the discordant note’ is gradually being picked up by politicians, media and cultural organisations round Europe, who realise that visa issues are not only affecting artists from developing countries but the European music industry as such.

In the radio programme Ole Reitov pointed out that unless ministers from various sectors collaborate, then the problems will not be solved. The ‘white paper’ points out that apart from lack of transparency and information, the current systems are not harmonized.

Minister Billström added: “I agree that we must work more with biometric systems, so that they can be ‘saved’ and used again and again.”

Swedish EU chairmanship
As it is today European countries apply different systems. The minister pointed out that the EU is currently looking into ways of harmonizing the current visa systems.

The Swedish government will take over the EU chairmanship later this year and will thus be able to highlight issues such as mobility for artists.

At a national level MP, Cecilia Magnusson promised to raise the issue with the Swedish Minister of Culture and other colleagues.