The Council of Ministers adopted the Copyright Directive, including ancillary copyright for press publishers and a de facto obligation for Internet platforms to use upload filters
Greens/EFA priorities for the plenary week included the Copyright Directive; the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Fund; the Framework for sustainable investment; the final report of the TAX3 committee; the Mobility Package; recent developments on the Dieselgate scandal; the rule of law in Malta and Slovakia; the 2017 'discharge'; the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment.
The Greens/EFA group had joined the protests of millions of people and received a petition of over 5 million people against this law. The agreement adopted today will make upload filters the norm and restrict possibilities of expression due to licensing obligations that are impossible to fulfil.
Two years and a half have passed since the European Commission proposed a Directive for Copyright in the Digital Single Market. More years have passed ever since academics, politicians and the civil society have looked into the amendment of a law that is considered obsolete. Now, we are only counting days until the European Parliament votes on this controversial file
Greens/EFA priorities for the plenary week included the EU-Singapore trade agreement, the protection of animals during transportation, the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, the debate on the Future of Europe with the Italian Prime Minister, the final trilogues on copyright and on the gas directive, ...
"This deal is a threat to small publishers, authors and internet users alike and risks putting the internet as we know it solely in the hands of the tech and media giants. Upload filters do not work as algorithms simply cannot tell the difference between copyright infringements and legal parodies. Even the most sophisticated upload filters routinely block perfectly legal content."
Julia Reda, Greens/EFA Vice President and shadow rapporteur on the Copyright Directive
LIVE press conference 11 December 2018 10:30-10:50
Greens/EFA co-presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts present the key issues of the plenary session and of the European agenda for the Greens/EFA group