The subject of European copyright reform was ultimately only briefly alluded to during the Competitiveness Council on Monday 29 May.
At the very time the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU was endorsed, however, Malta appeared to suggest that it would present a progress report or organise a political debate on this dossier. The Maltese Presidency has informed us that, “working group discussions are still on-going”. Another source close to the dossier explained to us that, “the level of maturity in the technical examination is currently preventing us from presenting a progress report to the Council or even envisaging a general approach”.
The only member state to refer to this dossier during the debate on the single market and the single digital market, was Spain. It indicated that the issue could compromise the principle of territory and could hamper creativity (see EUROPE 11624).
During these discussions, several organisations sent a letter to the European Parliament and Council requesting that they do not create a similar law for newspaper publishers. The letter was co-signed by a number of organisations such as the EDIMA, EDRI, Wikimedia and Digital Europe. The letter also called for the provisions on value disparities to be withdrawn and to include broad exceptions on data mining, education and cultural heritage. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)