Interview with Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Head of the European Commission representation in Spain
Last week, as part of its first Masterclass, SGAE (the Spanish author society) interviewed Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Head of the European Commission representation in Spain.
Mr Fonseca Morillo talked openly about both the protection of intellectual property rights and the promotion of cultural industries in Europe.
Key highlights:
- Mr Fonseca Morillo reiterated that the European cultural industries represent some 4% of European Gross Domestic Product, employing some 6.7 million people.
- Mr Fonseca Morillo presented the Creative Europe Programme, a new instrument that will run from 2014 to 2020. Creative Europe will give artists and professionals from the sector access to an ever-broader public.
- Mr Fonseca Morillo emphasised that the Commission’s priority is to protect creators’ intellectual property rights via an efficient strategy that extends within and across the Europe – a crucial condition for ensuring that they are being fairly remunerated.
- Licenses for Europe, was referred to by Mr Fonseca Morillo as a vital dialogue between all stakeholders in the creative sector. This dialogue, that the creators of this platform are deeply engaged with, is a crucial path towards the innovative solutions that are needed to make the single market work.
- Touching on the ongoing EU-US trade deal talks, Mr Fonseca Morillo mentioned that some economic aspects of the creative sector will be included in the negotiations, but that the European Commission will continue to conserve the uniqueness of its cultural heritage through the cultural exception.
You can read the full article here in Spanish.