To the attention of Minister Tõnis Lukas
Ministry of Culture
Brussels, 18 November 2019
Dear Minister,
We are contacting you on behalf of the European Magazine Media Association (EMMA) and
the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) representing tens of thousands of
newspapers and magazines across the European Union.
In the context of the Council of Ministers of Culture taking place on 21 November 2019, the
French delegation added an item on the agenda to impart information on the neighbouring
right for press publishers as introduced by the Copyright Directive 2019/790 and its
implementation thereof.
The item mentions that in France, the transposition of this new right has led to the immediate
reaction of a major digital player, which either no longer shows the article excerpts in its
search, or shows the press content in a degraded form, unless publishers renounce their
legitimate right and give up their own remuneration.
This situation questions both the respect of the copyright legal framework resulting from the
recently adopted directive, and the respect or lack of competition rules by certain market
dominant actors.
In this context, we would like to invite you to an informal exchange between Ministers
and CEOs and publishers’ representatives on 21 November at 14:30 at the Club room of
the Residence Palace located on 155, Rue de la Loi (next door to the Council building).
This meeting represents a unique opportunity to bring together ministers and publishers
across Europe to have an informal exchange on the best way to implement the publishers’
right and to share existing ideas and ongoing initiatives to ensure the effectiveness of the right.
Furthermore, this would also be an opportunity to have a meaningful exchange on Council
level together with high-representatives of the press sector on how to address the outstanding
issue of market dominant platforms.
Finally, there will be a discussion on the ePrivacy Regulation proposal which is on the agenda
of COREPER the next day after this meeting and that will have a substantial impact on press
outlets across Europe.
Given the strategic importance of this unprecedented initiative, we hope we can rely on your
presence and we invite you to let us know at
[email protected] if you would decide to
attend the meeting.
Yours faithfully,
EMMA & ENPA - Rue de Namur 73A -1000, Brussels Tel: + 32 2 536 06 00
Carlo Perrone Xavier Bouckaert
ENPA President EMMA President
List of attending publishers:
- Carlo Perone, President of the European Newspaper Publishers Association (ENPA),
Board member of GEDI Gruppo Editoriale (Italy);
- Xavier Bouckaert, President of the European Magazine Media Association (EMMA),
CEO Roularta Media Group (Belgium);
- Stig Kirk Orskov, Vice-President of World Association of News Publishers (WAN-
IFRA), CEO JP/Politikens Hus (Denmark);
- Alain Augé, President of Syndicat des Editeurs de la Presse Magazine (SEPM),
General Director Bayard Presse (France);
- Laurent Berard-Quelin, President of the Fédération Nationale de la Presse
d'information Spécialisée (FNPS), Deputy General Director of Société Générale de
Presse (France);
- Michal Půr, Board Member of the Czech Publishers Association and Chief Editor of
Info.cz (Czech Republic);
- Wieslaw Podkanski, Honorary President, Ringier Axel Springer Poland (Poland)
Pierre Louette, CEO Les Echos - Le Parisien (France) ;
- Carolin Wehrhahn, Head Brussels Office, Axel Springer (Germany).
EMMA & ENPA - Rue de Namur 73A -1000, Brussels Tel: + 32 2 536 06 00