A very good evening to you, Mr President, at this late hour, shortly before midnight, when we few are together. I would just like to play a question and answer game with you. Let us talk about an international hit film, a European film that has been a success around the world. Let us take as our example the film ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. Do you know who wrote the script? No? Shame on you! Do you know who composed the music for it? That neither! Do you know who directed it? Perhaps someone can remember? No, they cannot. Could you tell me who the film’s backers were, or who its producer was? Hmm. I assume, though, that you have heard of its two stars, Hugh Grant and Andy McDowell. We could carry on this question-and-answer game for ever and a day, whether with ‘Amélie’ or with ‘The Pianist’, it does not matter which. Both directors and producers know all too well what is valuable to them about their actors – firstly, their talent, and secondly their name – whilst the public have quite personal reasons for their adulation of their celluloid heroes and heroines. Successes at film festivals, the sought-after jangling of money in box-office tills, good viewer figures – all these things are directly dependent on a performer’s quality as an actor and on his or her popularity with the public. Let me clarify this by saying that I do not want to be misunderstood as attempting to assess the merits of any one of the creative professions in the film world; such is not my objective. Film-making is a collaborative effort in which everyone is important, from the author to the producer. All are doing their work, and all of them – with the exception of one professional group – are protected internationally. Authors enjoy the protection of the Berne Convention and of the WIPO copyright treaties. Producers and players of music are protected internationally by the Rome Convention and the WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty. Even television stations, which are, primarily, more consumers than creators, have their rights guaranteed by the Rome Convention, and these are to be brought up to date by the WIPO treaty on the rights of broadcasting companies, something that is awaited, being urgently necessary, right and important. Performers in films, though, are still not covered by the Performers and Phonograms Treaty. Why? Since 1996, negotiations within the WIPO have produced no favourable outcome for the heroes and heroines of the screen, who also got no result from the diplomatic conference in December 2000; nor did bilateral meetings between WIPO members achieve the desired objective. The signatory states are now to meet again, in Geneva, from 18 to 20 June. Performers in films have been waiting for years for a minimum of protection for their copyrights at an international level. Whilst the EU has always acknowledged the economic importance of artistic output, we know all too well that what is today the work of an artist will tomorrow be part of our cultural heritage. Within the EU, performers are protected by national legislation, but in most countries their rights are minimal or non-existent. The failure to harmonise these rights internationally means that the performers in works originating in the EU are no longer protected, so that their free circulation is curtailed, with adverse effects on the distribution of European works at an international level. All in all, then, these are hardly good conditions. You will be familiar with the saying that ‘the world is a village’. Technological developments over recent years, media convergence and technological developments yet to come mean that this saying is more true than ever before. Borders are eliminated and obstacles removed, legislators and all interested parties are faced with a plethora of challenges. One of them is that of providing international protection for the work of performers, in respect of which the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, Media and Sport wishes to send Geneva a political signal. As it is the Commission that will be representing the EU’s Member States at the WIPO negotiations in June of this year, we would like to put the following questions to you and be given answers to them. What view does the Commission take of this discrepancy between audiovisual performers and other creative artists? Should they not enjoy the same international protection as all their colleagues in the music world? Is the Commission able to inform us of the current position in the WIPO negotiations as regards audiovisual performers? Thirdly, what actions does the Commission contemplate taking in order to do away with this discrimination against one single professional group? (Applause)

Political group: Verts-ALE