Key Copyright Committee Parties show support for Copyright Directive proposals

 

31 May 2018

At the shadow meeting of 31 May 2018, Julia Reda reported that the European People’s Party (EPP), European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR), Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), and Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF) have explicitly shown support for the proposed Copyright Directive (potentially resulting in a narrow majority lead). This report follows the publication of an article revealing how the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) used “threats and warnings” to secure EPP votes in favour of the proposed Directive. In turn, the EPP have been accused of “openly lobbying” on behalf of German publisher, Axel Springer. The original article itself is seemingly no longer available, and only accessible via a Google Cache version available here. A similar article has since been published on EU Today, though commentators note that these have varying degrees of similarities. Reliable screenshots of key portions in the original article have been compiled by Julia Reda via Twitter.