Press Release: FEP Spring General Assembly

The General Assembly of FEP (Federation of European Publishers) elected its President, Flemish publisher Rudy Vanschoonbeek, owner of Uitgeverij Vrijdag (Antwerp, Belgium). It also elected Peter Kraus vom Cleff, CFO of Rowholt (Germany) as Vice-President, Benedikt Föger, owner of Czernin Verlag (Austria) as Treasurer with Mikaela Zabrodsky (Sweden), Piero Attanasio (Italy) and William Bowes (UK) as Board members.

The FEP Assembly was hosted by its German member, the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels and met at Aufbau Verlag, Ullstein Verlag and Dussman Kulturkaufhaus. FEP members adopted an electoral manifesto ahead of the May 2019 European elections.
The newly elected President said, “We are facing challenging times now having the Copyright Directive being voted in the EP on July 5th, seeking reduced VAT rates for ebooks in all European countries, working on the jurisdiction on Tom Kabinet (forthcoming Court decision on online distribution), on accessibility for visually impaired persons of printed and digital content, presenting the Berlin Manifesto of the publishing industry to the new EP ahead of the election. Thanks to my fellow board members and our skilled personnel at the Brussels office we will continue presenting the publishing industry to our stakeholders or/and opponents as a unique and important industry that is to be fostered.”
Founded in 1967, FEP deals with European legislation and advises publishers’ associations on copyright and other legislative issues. The book is the first cultural industry in Europe, with an annual book publishers’ turnover of 22-24 billion Euro and a production of more than half a million new titles per year. Representing 29 national associations of publishers of books, learned journals and educational materials in Europe, FEP is the voice of the great majority of European publishers.