European Integration and Audiovisual Media Services: The Relation between the Cultural Policy of the European Communities and France in 1980-1993 Rika KOBATA This paper considers the relationship between the EC and France from 1980 to 1993 from the perspective of cultural policy. In the 1980s, the EC became more and more interested in the cultural field, which had been exclusively under the authority of the state in France. Since then, the EC and France have established a partnership in cultural policy. The relationship, however, contained a number of contradictions and tensions. In this paper, my attention is focused on the EC policies for the audiovisual media, which constitutes an essential part of cultural policy. Two measures are examined: MEDIA programme and the Television Without Frontiers Directive. These measures reflected both of two different attitudes toward cultural policy, namely protectionism and liberalism. This is because EC member states achieved no general consensus about cultural policy. This means that there could be confrontations between member states, such as the case in the Uruguay round of GATT trade talks. Therefore, French government, being always an enthusiastic proponent of the cultural protectionism, was extremely careful when the EC tried to increase its power in the sphere of culture. Although the EU now promotes cultural policy on the European level, its future is uncertain and there are a lot of problem to be solved.