The stakeholders are putting forward their final pawns, in the hope of holding sway in the vote of the European Parliament on copyright reform, to take place on Wednesday 12 September. This is taking place against the backdrop, on the one hand, of a battle of arguments and counter-arguments on Twitter and, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, multiple demonstrations attended by figures from the world of culture.
Did these initiatives help to move the lines from July (see EUROPE 12056)? It is hard to say. During the debate the day before, opinions were still well entrenched. The group meetings to follow were expected to shed a bit more light.
Debate at the European Parliament
Some MEPs announced their voting positions during the debate. For instance, Luis de Grandes Pascuál (EPP, Spain) told Axel Voss that the Spanish EPP delegation would support his amendments. Marie-Christine Boutonnet (ENF, France) and Sajad Karim (ECR, UK) also got behind the rapporteur. For the S&D group, Pervenche Berès of France told a press conference that her group would have a free vote.
There were some expectations of a sort of coalition between Voss (EPP, Germany) and Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), but although the rapporteur called on the various parties to sit around the table together, he concluded his speech to plenary by stating that on article 13, he was not in favour either of the position of the committee on the single market, defended by Julia Reda and Catherine Stihler, or of that of the Liberals.
Demonstrations
In any event, the lobbies were out in force in the buildings of the European Parliament to meet the MEPs. Several of them, furthermore, arranged large-scale demonstrations.
The supporters of the reform. Among the proponents is Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, who urged the MEPs to support the text in an open letter to the Financial Times, adding that it was now or never. The network Europe for Creators, which includes organisations such as the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (Sacem), distributed flyers calling for culture to be protected (complete with condoms) and hosted a number of concerts presented as a 'Recital for Europe'. The head of AFP's Baghdad office, Sammy Ketz, stood alongside MEPs Virginie Rozière (S&D, France) and Helga Trüpel (Greens/EFA, Germany) to call for the creation of a neighbouring right for newspaper publishers in order to protect an “endangered” profession.
The opponents of the reform. Former Fugees member, Wyclef Jean, was also at the European Parliament, alongside German MEP Nadja Hirsch (ALDE) to oppose the reform. “We need to give young people the chance to get themselves known on the biggest platforms, so that they can be discovered”, the Haitian rapper said, adding that he was thinking of “future Beyoncés”.
However, the fiercest battle was fought on Twitter, where the two factions staged a battle of arguments. As in July, those opposed to the reform stressed the 'censure' aspect, obliging the Commission to reassert that neither memes nor hyperlinks were in any danger. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)