The rapporteur for copyright reform, Axel Voss (EPP, Germany), had to spend a lot of time on Tuesday 20 November in the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs. Several of his colleagues have openly criticized his handling of the case, which is currently in the trilogue phase.
Fire was opened by shadow rapporteur Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, France), later joined by Mary Honeyball (S&D, UK) and Pascal Durand (Greens/EFA, France). At the centre of the controversy was a lunch organised by Axel Voss with representatives of YouTube - strongly opposed to the obligation to enter into licensing agreements or to moderate unauthorised content (Article 13) - during the plenary session in Strasbourg on 15 November, when the negotiating mandate was granted in early September. Mr Cavada also criticised the fact that the meetings of shadow rapporteurs are not always translated. "The procedure is complicated, emotional. We must try to keep a cool head and talk to the people concerned," said the rapporteur, supported by Syed Kamall (ECR, UK), who was also present at the lunch.
This agenda item was supposed to report on the state of inter-institutional negotiations with the Council on copyright. On this point, the rapporteur only indicated that the discussions were progressing very slowly. He indicated that progress had been made on the uncontroversial Articles 7 to 10 (the exceptions), but that Articles 11 and 13 (on the rights of newspaper publishers and the value gap respectively) remained problematic. The next negotiation meetings are currently scheduled for 26 November, 3 December and 13 December. A fourth could be added, Axel Voss suggested. On the agenda for 26 November are Articles 14 and 16a (transparency obligation and contractual provisions) of the Council version. "We are moving forward in such a way as to save the most complicated problems for the end," the rapporteur commented.
It should be noted that, for its part, the Council should raise this week, for the first time, the question of creating a right for organisers of sporting events, as requested by the European Parliament. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)