Activities of Emmanuel MAUREL related to 2023/2053(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the future of the European book sector
Amendments (44)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the entire book sector value chain relies on the balance between the various actors, such as authors, publishers, translatordistributors, translators, printing companies, booksellers and libraries;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas authors are the creative source of all books;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas the vast majority of European publishers are SMEs or even microenterprises;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E c (new)
Recital E c (new)
Ec. whereas bookshops and libraries are the focal point for readership development and reading promotion, whilst contributing to social and digital inclusiveness;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the governments of some Member States have exerted influence and regulatory pressure on the book sector, which negatively impacts on freedom of expression and conflicts with EU values;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the market share of electronic formats, particularly audiobooks, yet many readers returned to paper formats after the lockdowns ended;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas readers, including young ones have shown a continued preference to read printed books;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas the availability of digital books offers an opportunity to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, however this requires adequate investments in the production of different formats and the development of relevant skills;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. given the difficulties posed by shortages of the paper and ink required for producing works;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K b (new)
Recital K b (new)
Kb. whereas the lack of interoperability between e-book formats reinforces the position of dominant market players, whilst restricting consumer choice and protection;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K b (new)
Recital K b (new)
Kb. whereas almost all books for children and young people are printed in Asia;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K c (new)
Recital K c (new)
Kc. whereas price cap measures, such as the single book price in some Member States, have helped maintain considerable diversity in the value chain, plentiful supply, editorial pluralism and a local network of independent booksellers;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K d (new)
Recital K d (new)
Kd. whereas the Deforestation Regulation will apply to the books value chain, given the essential role played by paper mills and printing houses in collecting data on sources of wood, and given that the paper required to produce a single book contains numerous different sources of wood, it will be impossible to retrace the sources of wood after it has been made into paper;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Underlines the need to ensure a balance in the book ecosystem by fulfilling the specific roles of the various actors of the value chain, such as authors, publishers, printers, distributors, translators, booksellers and libraries;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Invites the Commission in its mid- term review of the Creative Europe programme 2021-2027 to introduce measurable goals on how funding is used to improve the accessibility of books for persons with disabilities;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Urges the Member States to foster cultural diversity by increasing the acquisition budget of libraries, so that they can further expand the range of books that they offer, andto supporting local bookshops, to safeguard the appropriate remuneration of authors and the investment capacity of publishers;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the Member States to devote a specific allocation of European structural funds to building libraries in the areas of European countries that have none;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the need to support the translation of European books, in particular by enhancing public funding at both national and European levels so as to improve the circulation, visibility and diversity of translated books and support translators in the face of the development of artificial intelligence technologies;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses the need to support the creation and translation of European books, in particular by enhancing public funding at both national and European levels so as to improve the circulation, visibility and diversity of translated books;
Amendment 91 #
8a. Underlines the importance of the mobility and exchanges between authors in order to facilitate their creative work and improve their opportunities to gain new professional experiences abroad;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Welcomes the new mobility action Culture Moves Europe in the frame of the Creative Europe Programme offering mobility grants to artists and cultural professionals, in particular for literary translators;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Recalls that the ability of the book sector to maintain a diverse network of booksellers and innovation-driven market relies on proper education and training that allows people to pursue a career in the book industry;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Underlines that 2023 has been declared the European Year of Skills and calls on the Member States in this regard to support the education and training programs dedicated to the various actors of the book sector;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Supports further promotion of the EULP in the Member States, including via the creation of an EU category for European children’s books;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Underlines the positive role taken by influencers to promote books on social media in an innovative way, thus fostering reading and European culture among younger generations;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Underlines the social role of libraries as places where citizens meet with authors and exchange views, in particular in small towns and less developed regions;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that sufficient funding continues to support the Ukrainian book sector, including artists and authors for the duration of the war and the reconstruction of the country;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Underlines the role taken by the Creative Europe Programme to fund some of these projects, such as the Tales of EUkraine initiative;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17b. Calls on the Commission to create a ‘Printed in Europe’ label;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Calls on the Commission to support print-on-demand programmes that make it possible to legally republish books that are out of print and not scheduled to be reprinted;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Calls on the Member States to exercise greater vigilance over paper and ink production capacities, and to explore providing support to this link in the book chain;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18c. Calls on the Commission to establish clear guidelines on applying the Deforestation Regulation, taking into account the specific characteristics of the book sector and the enormous complexity of its value chain so as to ensure that the due diligence obligations of the various publishing actors are clear while also remaining proportionate and feasible;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 d (new)
Paragraph 18 d (new)
18d. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to support the development of industrial capacities in Europe (paper and ink production and printing houses) so that books for young people and children can be printed here and thus reduce their carbon footprint;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Acknowledges the potential benefidevelopments for the sector ofrom the use of artificial intelligence (AI), such as automated text analysis, metadata tagging, online discoverability and professional translation automation tools; underlines certain challenges for the sector in this regard, such as the lack of transparency in relation to AI training;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Underlines the risks presented by Generative Artificial Intelligence for the book market, including that number of training datasets have been shown to include illegally copied books and that AI- generated books may flood the market and lead to unfair competition with authors whose styles are copied;
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Calls on the Commission to support research and innovation projects on the use of AI, in order to enhance the efficiency of the sector, notably with regard to environmental sustainability and accessibility for instance through Horizon Europe;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Stresses the importance of transparency regarding the training data, including regarding the works that have been collected and from which sources, and use of Generative Artificial Intelligence;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Calls on the Commission to create a database of published books that is easily accessible to all and that contains bibliographic data (title and elements of the title, authors, role of the author, biography, language of the text, languages in translation, reading age, type of book, etc.), ISBN, availability, price and marketing data (excerpt, front cover, back cover, blurb, table of contents, etc.);
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Underlines the importance of collecting data from publishers in order to display the origins of all parts of the book through the entire production chain, including information on paper certification and place of production;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Recalls the decisive role played by the charges consumers pay for the delivery of books they buy online and the importance of fair competition in the market, particularly between independent bookshops and online sales platforms; highlights the anticompetitive practices of some actors by making physical delivery almost free in order to attract consumers; welcomes the initiatives taken by some Member States to regulate delivery charges and calls on the Commission to support them;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls on the Commission to support national initiatives that help protect SMEs, micro-enterprises and independent structures in the book sector from unfair competition from the large platforms;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Highlights the importance of national legislative measures aimed at putting a framework around fixed book price systems in light of the development of online sales;