Twenty-four MEPs from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and ECR groups, as well as independent Italian MEP Tiziana Beghin, sent a letter to the European Commission on Friday 28 April regretting that the future proposal on combating the piracy of live online events will take the form of a recommendation (non-binding) and not a legislative act.
“We, together with many of our colleagues, remain disappointed that the European Commission proposed a Recommendation despite unambiguous requests from the European Parliament for a legislative instrument”, they write.
The group of MEPs believes that the Commission should “further explore other avenues of action, including proposing legislation”, should the recommendation fail to achieve the desired effects.
Otherwise, “the European Commission would demonstrate a lack of resolve in defending the rule of law in the European Union and delivering on the Commission’s commitment to ensure that what is illegal offline is illegal online”, they add.
Furthermore, the signatories of the letter believe that the three-year review period - which is expected to be part of the proposal the Commission is due to present on Thursday 4 May - is too long and “will only benefit malicious actors to the detriment of our European creative and sports industries”.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/6ob (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)