Emma Rafowicz (S&D, French), Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education, and over fifty MEPs sent a letter to the European Commission on Monday 17 March in defence of the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive.
This initiative follows a memo from the Trump administration on 21 February threatening this key legislation, which imposes funding obligations on foreign streaming platforms for local audiovisual production.
“The Commission must provide guarantees for European cinema and creativity, particularly with a view to the potential revision of the AVMS Directive in 2026”, stressed Emma Rafowicz in a press release warning of the urgent need to protect cultural diversity and the European exception.
While the Commission has already reacted to threats to the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), it has not yet taken a position on the future of the AVMS Directive, which is being directly targeted by the US administration.
In the run-up to its review, the signatories call on the Commission to defend a regulatory framework that guarantees cultural sovereignty and support for independent production.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/fz2 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)