Today, the Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of the copyright reform – including the obligation for upload filters and an ancillary copyright for press publishers.

A matter of a few seconds

The vote took place shortly after 1 p.m. and was over sooner than we had hoped. By a wafer-thin majority of only five votes MEPs first decided not to accept any amendments. The deletion of Article 13 (upload filters) and/or Article 11 (ancillary copyright for press publishers) was therefore not put to a vote.

Subsequently, the compromise proposal drawn up in the trilogue negotiations was adopted by a clear majority: 348 votes in favour, 274 against, 36 abstentions. A frightening result. The greatest support for the project came from the EPP and S&D ranks.

Among the German MEPs, all but one of the CDU/CSU members present voted yes. Looking at the SPD, the picture is quite different. Apart from two abstentions and one vote in favour, the proposal was consistently rejected. And the other German representatives were also predominantly against this reform.

Last debate in plenary

In the morning, the MEPs had had a heated debate in the EU Parliament. It showed once again how unteachable the supporters of the reform are when it comes to scientific advice and what kind of incompetence we are dealing with here.

A disgusting thing to see was how MEP Julia Reda (Greens/EFA) was treated. She was the only one to be disturbed several times during her speech by loud and persistent interjections which forced Vice-President Mairead McGuinness (EPP) to intervene. Following this, Julia Reda was subjected to the childishly angry cries of MEP Daniel Caspary (EVP) and MEP Jacens Rohde (ALDE), to which she reacted with impressive calm and professionalism. It is a painful loss that she will not to stand for re-election and therefore not be a member of the next Parliament.

Just one last step

In order for the Directive to enter into force and for EU Member States to transpose it into their national law, it still needs to be approved by the European Council. This is thus the very last chance to prevent this madness. The vote is expected to take place on 9 April.

At the moment, it cannot be assumed that the German Federal Government will put in a veto. The reason for this assumption is a horse-trading that took place according to the FAZ: Germany agrees with the directive while France has agreed to concessions in the dispute over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

The German Federal Government must not get away with this. At least 12 spontaneous demonstrations have already been announced for today alone in Germany. The protest must not fade away but must become even stronger.

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