European Parliament calls on the European Commission and the Member States to support books in minority languages.

The European Parliament has just unanimously voted for a report on the future of the European Book sector. The report that places books as the backbone of our society, calls on the Commission and the Member States to promote cultural diversity by supporting the translation of books into regional, minority and lesser-used languages, as well as calling  the Member States to recognise books as essential goods, calls for books to be zero-rated for VAT in the Member States. The report notes that although women constitute the majority of employees in the book sector, they continue to be under-represented in senior executive positions.

Diana Riba i Giner, the Greens/EFA shadow rapporteur on the file said:

“This Parliament will send out an unequivocal message tomorrow: books are an essential commodity. And we are very proud to have contributed to this text which reflects the diversity of the sector: from authors to small publishers, from school libraries to public libraries and librarians, from small bookshops to booksellers, from readers to reading. “

“Books are all essential: in protecting freedom of expression and in building a diverse Europe.”

“In defence of cultural diversity, this vote makes the European Parliament's position clear: we call on the Commission and the Member States to promote it through action, in particular by supporting creation and translation in so-called regional or minority languages.”

“With this vote, we are also forcefully denouncing the growing censorship in some Member States. Unfortunately, we Catalan speakers know it well: just a couple of months ago, the extreme right came to power in a municipality in Valencia and withdrew all magazines in Catalan from its public library.”

“As Ovidi used to say: "hi ha hi ha gent a qui no li agrada que es parle, s'escriga o es pense en català. És la mateixa gent a qui no li agrada que es parle, s'escriga o es pense" "There are people who don't like to be spoken, written or thought in Catalan. It is the same people who do not like people to speak, write or think"