Austria is represented within the Observatory’s Executive Council by Andreas Ulrich, Constitutional Service of the Austrian Federal Chancellery .
The European Audiovisual Observatory starts a new year under its new Austrian Presidency.
This Council of Europe organisation based in Strasbourg has been providing facts and figures and analysis of the film, television and video industries in Europe since 1992.
Each January a different Observatory member country takes over its yearly rotating Presidency. Austria follows on from Georgia which held the Observatory Presidency 2024. Austria is represented within the Observatory’s Executive Council by Andreas Ulrich, Constitutional Service of the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt).
As every year, a public media conference is hosted by the Presidency of the Observatory in the first half of June. This will take place as an in-person event in Vienna on 4 June 2025. The subject of this conference to be chosen by the Observatory’s Austrian Presidency will be announced early this year.
Andreas Ulrich stated: “We are honored to take over the Presidency of the Observatory from our fellow colleagues from Georgia. We look forward to making a substantial contribution to the Observatory’s valuable work in the European audiovisual sphere this coming year”.
Susanne Nikoltchev, the Observatory’s Executive Director, thanked the outgoing Georgian Presidency and in particular the outgoing chair for his commitment to the work and values of the Observatory. She stated that she was looking forward to working with Austria as “an innovative hub for audiovisual production and coproduction at the heart of Europe.”
The Observatory also announces the start of office of a new Chair of its Advisory Committee. Laura Houlgatte, CEO of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) was elected to the chair of the Observatory’s Advisory Committee during their meeting on 20th September. Her term of office started on the first of January 2025. The Observatory’s Advisory Committee brings together 39 different industry representative groups. It meets in Strasbourg each spring and autumn to give the Observatory grass roots feedback on the kind of information and analysis media professionals in Europe really require for their work. Advisory Committee members also support Observatory’s projects by sharing expertise, data and industry contacts.
