The controversies freeze, at least for the summer, the EU Copyright reform. The Plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg voted against the start of negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the proposal for copyright reform directive. The text will again be examined and voted on from the next EP plenary session in September. 278 MEPs voted in favour, while 318 voted against and 31 abstained.
By voting against the start of negotiations on the revision of the Community rules on the protection of copyright, the parliamentarians have de facto sanctioned the reopening of the discussion in the courtroom on the provision. We recall that the latest changes by the EU Parliament on this matter date back to 2001.
The directive over the past few weeks had caused a lot of controversy. Italy, for example, had presented itself to the Plenary divided: on the one hand the Legastellato axis, profoundly opposed to the provisions of the text, on the other the Democrats, in favor of the provision and critics of the Italian debate accused of having been conducted on the ground of hoaxes and lies. The dispute has invested in particular article 13 of the draft which, according to Lega and M5S, would censor online users while according to the Democratic Party it would guarantee the legitimate owners - in particular newspapers and online publishing – of works protected by copyright.
“The European Parliament will freely decide its position on European copyright law with the aim of protecting the interest of all citizens. We must not interfere with the work of Parliament and we must not spread false and demagogic information”. So in a tweet the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani shortly before the vote in the classroom.
The European Parliament will freely decide its position on European copyright law with the aim of protecting the interest of all citizens. We must not interfere with the work of Parliament and we must not spread false and demagogic information
- Antonio Tajani (@EP_President) July 5 2018
The Italian version of Wikipedia, "closed" for two days in protest against the directive, has returned online after the decision to postpone the directive.
