I welcome the decision of the Autorité de la concurrence concerning the application of the neighbouring law by Google, which is unambiguous.
This is an important step towards the effective implementation of the neighbouring law of press publishers, introduced in May 2019 by the European Parliament and transposed in July 2019 into French law.
Alongside the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, I have worked tirelessly on this issue. With the help of all political forces, and the commitment of Deputy Patrick Mignola and Senator David Assouline, we have passed the law of July 24, 2019. France was the first country in Europe to transpose the copyright directive by creating neighbouring rights for publishers and news agencies.
Although voted, some wanted this right to remain a dead letter. They were wrong. I urge all actors to start negotiations as soon as possible. Those who use the information content must remunerate them. Without this, there is no sustainable production of information and therefore no sustainable democracy.
In accordance with the Autorité de la concurrence’s injunctions, it is now up to Google to offer publishers a fair remuneration, equal to the value that the search engine derives from information content.
The health crisis we are experiencing reminds us once again of the indispensable role of the mission to inform in any democracy. This mission has a cost, so it also has a price, that of the fair remuneration of those who produce it.
As I recalled yesterday at the videoconference meeting of the 27 Ministers of Culture of the European Union, we must continue to act to promote the European model of digital regulation, based on freedom and responsibility, support for the tremendous creativity that is expressed online and fair compensation for creators. It is a matter of political, cultural and economic sovereignty.