[Press release] The European book sector needs proper support to fulfil its societal responsibilities and remain a world leader

The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) welcomes the adoption of the report on the Future of the European Book Sector today by the European Parliament with an overwhelming majority. This is the first time in 10 years that the Parliament has made dedicated recommendations for the sector, in which Europe is a world leader.

The report recognises the fundamental contribution of the book sector, providing citizens with millions of books to educate and entertain themselves. But this contribution relies on key elements which must be defended, even within the EU: including a balanced value-chain, freedom of expression, editorial diversity, and independence from state censorship.

The book sector also has a societal responsibility to fulfil, such as to become greener, provide more accessible books to people with a handicap or support Ukraine. The report underlines the initiatives already taken by the sector but also highlights the need for further technical and financial support to help publishers in their efforts.
MEPs call for a stronger place for the book sector in existing EU programs, such as Creative Europe and Horizon, to support translation, the circulation of books, innovation, and research. The Parliament also calls for national and European initiatives to support reading promotion, such as book vouchers or “reading ambassadors”.

Finally, the Parliament recalls the central importance of a fair online environment, where online marketplaces put an end to their anti-competitive practices and generative AI tools are transparent about the data used for their training.

Ricardo Franco Levi, President of FEP, declared “the European Parliament made very important proposals to ensure that Europe remains the world leader of publishing, while facing the many challenges of the 21st century. I want to thank the Rapporteur, Tomasz Frankowski, as well as all the Parliament’s negotiators for their good collaboration and we call Member States and the Commission to implement in the next mandate the many good proposals of this report”.

For more information contact:

Quentin Deschandelliers, FEP Legal Advisor
qdeschandelliers@fep-fee.eu
+32 2 776 84 63

FEP is an independent, non-commercial umbrella association of book publishers’ associations in Europe. FEP represents 29 national associations of publishers of books, learned journals and educational materials of the European Union, the European Economic Area, and other European countries. Thus, FEP is the voice of the great majority of publishers in Europe.

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