Publishers from all over Europe attended the 50th Anniversary Congress of the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) in Brussels last week. This festive event featured speeches from Commissioners Barroso, Barnier and Reding.
ENPA President, Ivar Rusdal, kicked of the event by stating that “the newspaper sector will have a future as vital as its past, if we get the basics right. That includes promoting respect for copyright, ensuring a level playing field with the technology platforms that are our new business partners and providing a VAT system that promotes, rather than hinders, the development of newspapers on all platforms.”
During the day two policy panels discussed the role of newspapers in a democratic society and also the future of media in general. These panels included MEPs like Sophie In ‘t Veld and Malcom Harbour and people from the industry like Vice President of ENPA, Valdo Lehari and Christian Van Thillo the CEO of the Persgroep. They discussed the issues with other stakeholders and representatives of the Commission like Anthony Whelan, Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Neelie Kroes. The result was a wide variety of opinions and shared concerns about the future of the media.
As mentioned, three Commissioners also took the stage at the event. Commissioner Reding highlighted in her speech the value of the professional press in contributing to informed and engaged European citizens, while President Barroso stressed the importance of the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression. He reassured the audience of the Commission’s intentions to continue its support of these core values.
Commissioner Barnier ended the event by highlighting the value of creative content and the necessity for paid-for business models in the digital environment. In his closing speech, supportive of the rightsholders, Mr Barnier said that opting out of copyright should be considered as a form of “perversion” and that aggregators should always ask for permission. More specifically on enforcement he outlined plans for a revision of the Enforcement directive.
In addition he announced that an initiative on notice & takedown procedures will be published very soon as current regime is defective. On the e-commerce directive, he said that no revision was currently needed but a communication would be published end 2011 to clarify certain aspects, indicating that the guarantee for publishers not be held liable for their blogs is not in danger.
He furthermore referred to the reduced rate of VAT for online publications, indicating his support for the proposition of Commissioner Semeta. Commissioner Barnier ended the day on a positive note: “In a world of abundant information flows, independent press and quality journalism are more important than ever. You can count on strong support from the Commission to maintain a free press in Europe, strong and innovative.”
