The General Director of Cultural Industries will return to Foreign Affairs to promote the Spain Usa Foundation.
It has been a tough year for Guillermo Corral. As a result of the Downloads Law, the Cultural Industries Promotion Plan, there have been hidden struggles between Economy, Industry and Culture that have left a mark… The current General Director of Cultural Industries of the Ministry that Ángeles González-Sinde leads has decided to go back to the paternal house. He leaves his position to return to Foreign Affairs, specifically at Washington’s Embassy.
Guillermo Corral will leave his position in July, when Spain’s presidency of the European Union ends, to take up his new responsibility as Cultural Affairs Adviser. He carries on his experience at the Ministry of Culture to undertake a Foreign Cultural Action program as the Director of the Spain Usa Foundation, an organization that intends to promote the culture and trends sectors, related to arts, editing, music, film, gastronomy, design and fashion.
The announcement is still not official, but it was written on a document of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation that establishes the new positions for diplomatic career civil servants in 2010. It has already been approved by Minister Moratinos.
The young diplomat was taken on by César Antonio Molina to promote a concept that is pretty clear nowadays: culture is more an economic driving force than a Sister of Mercy, or a handout that passes for a subsidy. He is a diplomatic talent with a promising political career. This young diplomat, born in Portugalete in 1971, has held positions of trust at the Premios Príncipe de Asturias Foundation, directed the Casa Sefarad and has held his current position for two administrations. He was ratified by Sinde when she arrived at the Ministry and he has had a tough year.
The Downloads Law has had him and the Minister upside down. It has been months of marathon meetings within the sector with many disagreements and hidden struggles with other ministries involved, like Economy and Industry and he has kept always a warrior. For the past months, his task has been to introduce defense measures for Intellectual Property in the Sustainable Economy Law that were not always well understood by other Government areas. The last confrontation was on charging VAT to the electronic book.
Minister Sinde announced that a 4% would be charged, but this was a lost fight in Brussels, where a directive compells to charge 16% in these cases. The lack of will to put up a fight shown by those responsible for economy at the EU has not been well taken at the Ministry of Culture. They consider Sinde has been left in the lurch.
Corral put into effect cultural industries promotion plans with an investment of 64 millions of Euros. He promoted the Cultural Industries Forum that took place last month in Barcelona. He has signed foreign cultural action agreements, a key concept of the previous Minister’s strategy. Molina was so convinced about it, that there even was a struggle with Moratinos that ended up in Molina’s departure from government.
Translated by Santiago Jara, IFACCA Regional Coordinator, Latin America