With the start of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, AEPO-ARTIS sent an open letter to the President of Cyprus, Mr. Christodoulides, emphasizing the importance of protecting performers’ rights.
Read the full letter below.
Brussels, 5 January 2026
Dear President of Cyprus,
Dear Mr. Christodoulides,
Today the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union officially starts. For the next six months Cyprus will lead the discussions between Member States and have a major impact on the course the EU will take.
AEPO-ARTIS is a non-profit making organisation that represents 42 European performers’ collective management organisations from 30 different countries. The number of performers, from the audio and audiovisual sector, represented by our network is estimated at more than 650.000.
Together with our performers, we have been looking at the Cyprus Presidency Programme to find out what the next six months will bring for them. Allow us to express some disappointment that we had to read 51 pages before encountering the word culture and that we had to read it twice to realise the word artist is not mentioned once.
It is good that you will “take forward Council work on the Culture Compass”. This new instrument certainly needs the support of the Member States, most importantly for what concerns the striving towards an EU status of the artist. While obtaining this objective requires work within the competence of the Member States, a coordinating role within the Council is paramount.
And as the closing act of the trio program with Poland and Denmark, we expect from you an apotheosis. We hope that you will provide a plot and ensure that the good work of the main characters in the first and second acts will receive an ending on a positive note. Their work primarily focused on finding a fair and workable balance between artificial intelligence and copyright and related rights. The conclusions by the Danish Presidency on its Policy questionnaire regarding AI-licensing shows that a majority of EU Member States is ready to work on additional regulations and therefore this deserves a guaranteed follow-up.
Apart from AI, a review of the existing copyright and related rights framework should remain at the top of the Council agenda, and particularly the Commission’s review of Directive (EU) 2019/790 (the “CDSM directive”). It is anticipated that work on the review will be well underway by the second half of 2026. The Presidency should ensure a thorough review is carried out in a timely manner and that contractual imbalances such as buy-out practices are properly addressed. This could be achieved by insisting on regular updates within Council working parties and ensuring that Member States cooperate fully in this initiative.
The principle of fair remuneration was introduced to protect our performers from buyouts and unfair contractual practices used by producers and to guarantee them a fair share of the revenue their work generates on streaming services and social media platforms. Too many member states, including Cyprus, have not made use of the possibility the directive offers to introduce specific mechanisms, such as unwaivable remuneration rights, to protect performers. Meanwhile, the gap between powerful global market players and our individual European artists is widening.
During the Danish Presidency the Commission published its report on the assessment of the 2011 Term Extension directive, a report that was supposed to be submitted to the Council and the Parliament by November 2016. This directive extended the term of protection for musicians to 70 years but kept the protection of actors at 50 years. An incomprehensible discrimination that cannot be justified by any argument. Nonetheless, the Commission is of the opinion that no intervention is needed.
We expect the Council, under the Cyprus Presidency, to put this report back on the agenda and force the Commission to develop a proposal to remove all discrimination between performers from the EU acquis.
We also always like to read in a Presidency program that work will be done to “coordinate the EU’s positions at the meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organisation.” That is not a choice, but an essential part of the Presidencies’ job. We hope that this time you will be able to fulfil this role as a true diplomat, so that all Member States work together to obtain global support for the objectives the EU itself stands for. Objectives such as fair remuneration for performers.
For 10 years now, the topic of “Copyright in the Digital Agenda” has been on the agenda as an “other matter.” It was added with the objective of finding the best ways to ensure that existing WIPO treaties — which guarantee performers rights — result in effective, fair remuneration for those same rights holders. But the focus is lost. It’s time for the EU, during the SCCR in May, to take the lead, reclaim its role as a global cultural power, and ensure progress is made. Progress characterised by an unwavering commitment to fair remuneration for performers.
Lastly, we would like to urge that there finally be a coordinated response to our more than 10-year-old demand to work towards ratification of the WIPO Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, which the EU signed in 2013. This treaty aims at improving the worldwide protection of performers in the audiovisual sector. A unique moment for the EU to show that it puts the position of its performers first. Despite 13 years having passed and despite claiming full competence on this Treaty, the Commission has not done anything to prepare the ratification. We expect the Cyprus Presidency to push the Commission to take up its responsibility and provide a first draft before the end of June.
We wish you every success with the Presidency of the EU, which comes with so many responsibilities. You can count on us to help you in any way we can.
On behalf of every performer whose work you have ever appreciated.
Με απόλυτο σεβασμό,
Ioan KAES
General Secretary
AEPO-ARTIS
