YouthProAktiv attended the last conference organized by I-Com on the DSM Strategy Review. The event, held in a room of the European Parliament filled with MEP’s and experts on the matter, allowed a direct discussion on the pros and cons of the proposition tabled by the European Commission.

The proposition is aiming to adapt the current legislative framework in the media content domain in order to create a Digital Single Market. Needless to say that it is a very complex and technical subject that needs to be adressed with a certain technological approach.

I-Com’s President, Mr. Stefano Da Empoli opened the conference, before leaving the introductory remarks to Mr. Giuseppe Abbamonte, Director, Directorate for Media Policy at the European Commission (DG Connect), Mr. Brando Benifei, MEP (S&D) and H.E. Giovanni Pugliese, Ambassador Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy to the Council of the EU, who emphasized that the common goal of the project was to strengthen competitiveness for media, while maintaining cultural diversity.

Once the remarks made, Ms. Giulia Berni, Senior Research Fellow and Mr. Bruno Zambardino, Director Media Observatory, both at I-Com, presented the conclusions of the paper prepared by their organization on the subject. Divided in three parts, this comprehensive report explains clearly the positions of the organisation on different issues raised by the DSM Strategy review, such as copyright, a very sensible element.

This topic was one of the main to be debated by the MEP’s present at the event. Ms. Yana Toom (ALDE), CULT Committee, Ms. Julia Reda (Greens/EFA), JURI/IMCO Committee and Mr. Victor Negrescu (S&D), ITRE/JURI Committee exposed their concerns on the actual project defended by the European Commission. Fragmentation, lack of technological approach and problems with the content copyright were majors issues raised.

The debate, although shorten by the lack of time, led to a rich discussion to be continued on the various impact of the actual review on the table. We invite you to read the I-Com Report « Competitiveness of European Media Content industry and Impact of digital Single Market » to make up your own mind in this debate that is affecting each of us.

Let us know what you think about the report or the EC’s proposal!