The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL) recognises emerging fiction writers from the European Union and beyond. Engaging the 41 countries participating in the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, the Prize celebrates 41 outstanding new literary talents across a cycle of three years. Spotlighting the creativity and the immense and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature in the field of fiction, EUPL aims to encourage the circulation of literature within Europe and encourage greater interest in non-national literary works. 

The 2022 edition is a special one for EUPL, introducing a change in the organisation of the Prize. For the first time, a seven-member European jury awarded one overall winner for this edition, accompanied by five special mentions. 

We are pleased to announce this year’s winner: 

• ივა ფეზუაშვილი (Iva Pezuashvili), ბუნკერი (A garbage chute), Publisher: ინტელექტი (Intelekti), for Georgia 

We are pleased to announce this year’s five special mentions, in alphabetical order by country:

• Gaea Schoeters, Trofee (Trophy), Publisher: Uitgeverij Querido, for Belgium
• Slađana Nina Perković, U Jarku (In the ditch), Publisher: Imprimatur, for Bosnia and Herzegovina 
• Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin, Madame Lazare, Publisher: Barzaz, for Ireland 
• Jacobo Bergareche, Los días perfectos (Perfect days), Publisher: Libros del Asteroide, for Spain 
• Євгенія Кузнєцова (Eugenia Kuznetsova), Спитайте Мієчку (Ask Miyechka), Publisher: Видавництво Старого Лева (Old Lion Publishing House), for Ukraine 

Fourteen countries participated in EUPL 2022: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, and Ukraine. The 14 national nominees were revealed on 28 February 2022, one for each participating country. The authors and their novels were nominated by national entities, knowledgeable about the literary scene in their countries and used to promoting their national literature abroad. 

Since 2019, Ukraine has participated in EUPL. Prior to and during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EUPL consortium has worked with the Ukrainian Book Institute to include a Ukrainian nominee in the 2022 edition of the Prize. Both organisations – EIBF and FEP – stand in solidarity with Ukraine and, in particular, with Ukrainian writers, translators, publishers, booksellers and librarians. Together with the book community across the world, the EUPL consortium condemns the Russian attacks and calls for the restoration of peace in Ukraine.

Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and Sabine Verheyen MEP, Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament, congratulated the nominated authors in a recorded message shown during the winner reveal.

Commissioner Gabriel said: “Whatever the result, I would like to congratulate the 14 authors for their work, and I would also like to pay tribute to the translators, who are essential to linguistic diversity in Europe, as it is only when a work reaches its audience that it comes to life. Your role is therefore crucial and that is why we wanted to strengthen our support for translation in the new Creative Europe programme. I also salute booksellers, promoters of literary diversity, and the link between book professionals and the public.”

“For the European Parliament, it is decisive that the Prize will continue to promote all languages equally, as multilingualism is crucial. Engaging in 41 countries participating in the Creative Europe program of the EU, the Prize celebrates 41 outstanding new literary talents. This will put the spotlight on the creativity and diverse wealth of Europe’s contemporary literature and encourage its spreading to foster intercultural dialogue,” said MEP Verheyen. 

The EUPL is organised by a Consortium of associations comprising the Federation of European Publishers (FEP) and the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF), with the support of the European Commission.

Peter Kraus vom Cleff, President of FEP, said: “Knowing and understanding our fellow citizens, feeling empathy for our neighbours is the key to peace. This is the European project. This is also the objective of EUPL. I wish the best – in this case as many translations as possible – to the 14 nominees. The more these books circulated in Europe and beyond, the better for the cohesion of our society and our literary pleasure.”

Jean-Luc Treutenaere, co-President of EIBF, added: “The EUPL 2022 is a special edition. We have 14 outstanding nominees featured and, for the first time, we are recognizing five special mentions and one overall winner, all awarded by a European jury. I want to congratulate all nominees, the special mentions, and the EUPL 2022 winner for their great novels and their contribution to the European contemporary literary world. I cannot wait to meet our nominees and see their novels displayed in bookshops around Europe.”

Social media material

The social media material for the announcement is available here. 

Communications Advisor Jasmina Kanuric spotlights the new trends in bookselling at a two-day event 

The Sharjah international booksellers conference brought together booksellers and book sector professionals from all over the world. Taking place in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, the global bookselling community gathered for a two-day conference, filled with exciting panels, insightful keynotes, and various networking opportunities.  

The conference was held over two days, between 16 and 17 May 2022. During the opening ceremony of the inaugural International Booksellers Conference at the Sharjah Book Authority Headquarters, the participants could hear from His Excellency Ahmed Al Ameri, Chairman of the Sharjah Book Authority, and Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association.  

In her opening keynote, Bodour shared her international perspective on the resiliency of the book industry and the role robust and creative collaboration between booksellers, publishers, libraries and authors will play in driving the industry forward.  

Day 1

Panel 1: Digital, e-commerce, and social media  

During the first panel, Kuo-Yu Liang moderated a session on best practice and case studies for engaging with bookselling communities and growing sales through digital channels, including websites, social media, newsletters and e-commerce. 

The speakers included Mohamed Kandil, Molhimon Publishing and Distributions, UAE, Adedotun Eyinade, Roving Heights, Nigeria, Giorgia Russo, La Feltrinelli Internet Bookshop, Italy, and Nana Awere Damoah, Booknook, Ghana.  

In their presentations, all panelists highlighted the importance of using social media analytics for shaping their strategy, as well as maintaining a continuous engagement with audiences.  

Panel 2: Stock curation, presentation, and customer service  

The second panel of the day explored how having well curated and presented stock to maximise browsing and discovery is essential to sales. In addition, staff trained in bookselling and customer service are also key skills to generate book sales.  

Led by Simon Littlewood, international publishing consultant, the participants heard from Peter Kacmar, Ikar, Slovakia, Kenny Chan, (former) Kinokuniya Asia, Singapore, Remi Morgan, Laterna Ventures, Nigeria, and Sonia Draga, Sonia Draga Bookstores, Poland, during the panel.  

“One of the most important things, as far as running a bookstore is concerned, is ensuring you have the right product when it is needed. Many years ago, I read a report, based on a survey that looked at a set of bookstores to determine what current bestsellers were. The survey was conducted during a peak buying time and it turned out that the percentage of stock out was very high, about 60%. Stock outs represent lost sales. That resonated with me, and I decided to always try to determine what the bestsellers are or will be and then ensure we will not run out of stock too early,” highlighted Remi, explaining how to manage the risks involved with maintaining optimum inventory as a book seller.  

Closing keynote: Trends in international bookselling  

EIBF’s communications advisor Jasmina Kanuric gave a closing keynote speech during the first day of the conference. In her presentation, Jasmina highlight the global bookselling state of play, comparing bookselling sales numbers in various key markets in the period of 2019 to 2021.  

“I don’t think it’ll come as a surprise to anyone to hear that the two years of pandemic have reshaped the global bookselling industry. Booksellers across the world have seen their business models changing, having to move away from traditional bookselling overnight. At the same time, consumer behaviour changed, favouring a more digital approach, which also coincides with a spike in digital sales channels and the rise of audiobook market, among others. However, in many countries, bookshops are now considered essential businesses,” said Jasmina, focusing on the pandemic period.  

However, in stark contrast to 2020, book sales data from 2021 shows that the global bookselling market is recovering from the pandemic (op. half of the surveyed markets in 2020 experienced a drop in sales by more that 10%). In 2021, in 70% of surveyed countries, the sales have increased by 5% at least. In a third of all countries, sales numbers reached +10% or more. In some cases, for example in France, end of year holidays sales broke all records, and contributed to such amazing sales numbers across the board.  

However, there are a few caveats to this. First, and probably the most important one, not all growth is equitable. While overall sales grew, physical retail in brick and mortar bookshops remained impacted by lockdowns and lower customer traffic. On the other hand, the largest growth was seen in digital sales and for streaming services.  

On discussing future development opportunities, Jasmina highlighted: “It’s important for booksellers to continue raising their digital presence and optimize their online sales channels, even with the return to more established business models. There’s also a need to build a pipeline of events, this used to be a staple in our industry, but the pandemic really disrupted that. Reviving high streets and attracting customers to city centers goes along with this – many people are still working from home regularly, so tapping into that customer segment is important.”  

You can find Jasmina’s presentation here, while the full EIBF’s 2021 bookselling report will be released in the upcoming weeks.  

 

Day 2 

Opening keynote: Shelf life – chronicles of a Cairo bookseller 

Nadia Wassef, writer and co-founder of Diwan Bookstore, started the activities on the second day of the conference. In her keynote address, Nadia praised the role of booksellers in communities, building on her long experience within the industry. Twenty years ago, Nadia co-founded the Diwan Bookstore in Cairo, without any previous experience. Her journey included many steep learning curves, but the Diwan bookstores are now a thriving business.  

"Bookshops are characters with changing personalities, and bookselling is a conversation,” Nadia said, encouraging everyone to continue having many conversations with their customers, community, and colleagues around the world.  

Panel 3: Working with publishers, authors, festivals and schools  

Lola Shoneyin, Ake Book Festival, Nigeria, Gaurav Shrinagesh, Penguin Random House, India, Swati Roy, Bookaroo, India, and Tina Mamulashvili, Sulakauri, Georgia, spoke about many relationships booksellers juggle to ensure their stores reach the highest potential. Moderated by Therese Nasr, from the Ingram Publishing Services, the panel explored how being at the heart of a community and a destination for knowledge, information and reading for pleasure, means booksellers are constantly building and expanding solid partnerships with publishers, authors, festivals, and schools.  

Panel 4: New business models 

Bookshops are increasingly diversifying beyond the traditional models. We are seeing bookstores now with cafes, with non-book products, and taking advantage of new services. The fourth panel of the conference explored how diversification can work in practice, looking at experiences from four countries. The speakers presented what worked and what didn’t work in their circumstances, including the role of Print on Demand for booksellers.  

The participants heard from Agne Ahi, a bookseller at Apollo bookstore chain from Estonia, Akshaya Rautaray, from Walking Book Fairs, India, Hassan Ali, Lightning Source, Sharjah, and Keith Thong, UBSM, Malaysia. From cinema partnerships to innovative book-tuk truck that bring books to children in rural areas in India, the speakers highlighted the important role of bookselling for enabling access to books and culture to all.  

The conference closed with a final keynote speech, where Nana Lohrengel, General Secretary of the Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri Foundation, presented the Italian training initiative for booksellers. The school is now also running month-long practical placements, where participants get to experience first-hand how bookselling life is in different countries in the world.  

The International Publishers Association, the Federation of European Publishers and the European and International Booksellers Federation are extremely concerned by new reports from RadioFreeEurope regarding the detentions on 16 May of Andrey Yanushkevich, and his associate, Nasta Karnatskaya.

The pair were reportedly detained after they opened a general bookstore in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, and continued to sell copies of George Orwell’s 1984 which was banned, along with other publications, on 19 May 2022.

Kristenn Einarsson, Chair of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee said: We recognized independent Belarusian publishers in the 2021 IPA Prix Voltaire shortlist. We know that publishing and bookselling is so difficult in Belarus now and incidents like this will undoubtedly lead to self-censorship on the part of authors, publishers and booksellers. We continue to offer our support to all those publishers in Belarus who want to publish freely.

EIBF Co-President, Jean-Luc Treutenaere, added: We are concerned by the reports of book-banning, bookshop searches and overall censorship coming from Belarus. We call on the full respect for the freedom to publish and sell books, and we stand firmly with the Belorussian, European and international publishing community against any form of censorship of the written word.

Peter Kraus Vom Kleff, President of the Federation of European Publishers said: George Orwell’s book, 1984, denounces totalitarianism and mass surveillance. These are issues that, together with the role of truth and facts within politics and the ways in which they are manipulated, calls for increased consideration from politicians and society at large. No book, perhaps especially this one, should ever be banned. Freedom to publish and freedom to sell books are central to a democratic society.

The original press release is available here. 

Spotlighting diversification in bookselling sector: Apollo bookstore chain from Estonia 

First starting in 2000, Apollo bookshop opened it's first store in Estonia. In the two decades that followed, the chain grew to encompass 18 bookstores, while also expanding their presence in various non-book related businesses. The Apollo Group today includes 16 cinemas, 10 blender juice bars, 9 restaurants, 6 entertainment centres, 2 bowling arenas, and other ventures. 

At the recent International Booksellers Conference in Sharjah, Agne Ahi, Apollo's Product Manager of Foreign-language Books, highlighted the chain's diversification model and explored how this allowed the bookshop side of business to thrive: "We decided not to diversify just inside the stores, focusing on what we sell, but the business itself. By 2016, we created what we like to call the Apollo entertainment complex. This include bookstores, cinemas, and restaurants. To combine these together, we created Apollo loyalty club."

Agne joined one of the conference panels, spotlighting how diversification can work in practice and looking at experiences from four countries. The speakers also included Akshaya Rautaray, from Walking Book Fairs, India, Hassan Ali, Lightning Source, Sharjah, and Keith Thong, UBSM, Malaysia. From cinema partnerships to innovative book-tuk truck that bring books to children in rural areas in India, the panelists highlighted the important role of bookselling for enabling access to books and culture to all. The speakers presented what worked and what didn’t work in their circumstances, including the role of Print on Demand for booksellers.  

See Agne's full presentation. 

Notes from a conference: The Sharjah Booksellers’ Conference is the first of its kind on this scale at a global level. What did it do for the booksellers who participated?

In a new article published by Scroll.in, journalist Venkatesh M Swamy explores what participants of the recent International Booksellers Conference in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, have leant during the two-day event. Find out the key takeaways and read the full article here.

We are excited to reveal the global bookselling markets report for 2021, analysing current trends, exploring the pandemic impacts and highlighting development opportunities for the sector

The bookselling industry has been reshaped since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, with many booksellers undergoing a complete reinvention of their business models, often having to incorporate practices not associated with their traditional core business. In these changing circumstances, it is important to acknowledge the importance of customer interaction in bookshops. 

Booksellers rely on consumer presence in their stores and this connection is an integral part of any successful bookshop, no matter where in the world the store is located. From bustling city centres and urban residential areas to remote rural spaces, customer engagement underpins bookselling.  

As we try to understand the current trends shaping the global bookselling sector, we have to consider the ones that are gaining traction due to pandemic restrictions, such as lower footfalls in the shops, primarily digital audience groups and overreliance on online sales channels, among others. 

The European and International Booksellers Federation is excited to share its milestone report on the global bookselling markets for 2021, exploring the total sales numbers for the past year and analysing emerging trends to understand how the industry can respond to future development opportunities and challenges.

The report is based on a member survey, carried out by EIBF in April 2022. The national booksellers associations from eighteen countries responded to our written questionnaire, shedding light on ongoing challenges booksellers face in their daily activities: Australia, Denmark (Faroe Islands), Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. In addition to the survey answers, this report includes supporting information gathered by EIBF during the course of the past year.

Download the full report here. 

EIBF’s policy team, Daniel Martín Brennan and Tora Åsling, highlight their impressions from the two-day event in Lillehammer, Norway. 

With the aim of becoming an annual event and an arena to discuss, analyse and empower worldwide change on freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and freedom to publish, the first World Expression Forum (WEXFO) took place in Lillehammer, Norway on 30-31 May 2022.  

WEXFO brought together influential voices from civil society, politics, academia, media, the book trade and the arts, among others, to examine the current challenges concerning the right to freedom of expression across the globe. However, it also provided a platform to discover solutions, share best practices and showcase what progress has been made.  

The conference spotlighted the fragility of freedom of expression as a right and the urgency to fight for it, with distinguished speakers such as 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, and Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová.  

Day 1: The challenges to freedom of expression today and visions for the future  

Keynote: The current state of freedom of expression and key challenges for the future 

As one of the opening keynote speakers, Irene Khan gave an overview of the state of freedom of expression in the world today, explaining that, although attacks on freedom of expression have always been prevalent, there are new dangerous dynamics that make such attacks harder to tackle, such as the role of technology and the rise of populism. 

To follow up on this, Khan identified three major concerns when it comes to freedom of expression today:  

1. Retrogression of women’s human rights;  

2. Decline of press freedom and safety of journalists;  

3. Digital authoritarianism, i.e., the power big tech corporations hold over people due to our increased usage of digital platforms.  

With regards to the role of technology and digitalisation, she believes it has contributed massively to attacks on freedom of expression. While Khan highlighted its double edge sword - how it can be used both for good and bad – she emphasised the importance of digital literacy to be better protected. “We need to close the digital divide, and digital and media illiteracy must be given more attention.”  

She ended by advocating for stronger rules for the digital sphere, arguing that the lack of a shared framework to differentiate between truth and falsehood online is a huge problem.   

Regulator of the World 

In a pre-recorded video message, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, outlined the European Union’s efforts to introduce legislation promoting freedom of expression in the digital age, emphasising that “technologies should be tools for emancipation, not manipulation and repression.” Furthermore, Vice-President Jourová referred to the European Media Freedom Act, the EU’s new initiative to protect free and pluralistic media, as well as future plans to prevent abusive litigation (SLAPP) targeting journalists and rights defenders. 

Day 2: Hard truths and practical approaches to overcoming FoE challenges 

Workshops 

WEXFO’s second morning offered two sets of interactive workshops, engaging participants from a range of industries – media, book sector, arts etc. – on topics such as encouraging youth to speak out against hate speech, freedom of expression in times of war and the role of tech and tech regulation. Participants of the conference, coming from over 50 countries, discussed strategies, challenges, national differences, and practical tools to combat threats to freedom of expression. 

Keynote: What are you willing to give up for the truth? 

Maria Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her fearless work as a journalist and co-founder of the online news website Rappler. During her keynote speech, Ressa explained how Rappler’s mission of speaking truth to power has put her at personal risk by making her a target of online threats and violence. She underscored the fact that online violence is often used to silence women who are human right defenders and asked the pertinent question: “why are we not protected in the code of the virtual world?” 

Despite having suffered personally from online violence, there is no doubt of Ressa’s continued activism and online presence. “You need to fight tech with tech,” she said, highlighting the importance of regulating tech but also the need for individuals to occupy space to make the online world a better place. 

See you next year! 

The conference demonstrated diversity on stage, with panels of activists and human rights defenders from across the globe sharing their stories together with representatives from politics, academia and the book and press industry. 

WEXFO shed light on the vulnerable and worrying state for freedom of expression in many parts of the world. Yet, by continuously asking the question on how to move forward, how to solve the seemingly unsolvable, coupled with the unwavering strength of spirit and optimism of all the attendees, the forum managed to leave its audience with a sense of purpose and hope for the future.  

Peter Kačmár shares insights on bookshop stock curation and presentation from the perspective of Panta Rhei

IKAR, the largest publishing house and book distributor in Slovakia, was founded in 1990. In over 30 years of its existence, it has brought more than 6,700 titles to the Slovak market, of which more than 34 million copies were sold.

Another important part of IKAR’s business is sale through Panta Rhei, IKAR’s sister company. Panta Rhei operates the largest chain of bookstores in Slovakia, with approximately 60 shops around all the country as well as online point of sales.

Peter Kačmár, IKAR’s sales director, offered his insights into the book market in Slovakia during his presentation at the recent International Booksellers Conference in Sharjah. In his speech, he highlighted the consignment model, used by established bookshops in the country. Through this model, booksellers have no immediate financial commitments, as they do not have to pay for the displayed titles until they sell. On the other hand, Slovakian online bookshops still mostly purchase books directly from publishers.

Joining a panel discussion exploring how having well curated and presented stock is essential to sales in bookshops, Peter offered an example from Panta Rhei: “Initial book orders reflect potential marketing campaigns, which are agreed between publisher and bookseller centrally. These are based on store size and position, with displays dedicated to new releases, bestsellers, short-term thematic panels.”

Peter also spoke about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Slovak book market. Due to long periods of lockdown and somewhat complicated and slow government support schemes, brick and mortar bookshops in the country were hit the hardest, while also losing some customers to online shops.

The participants also heard from Kenny Chan, former senior director at Kinokuniya Book Store, Singapore, Remi Morgan, CEO of Laterna Ventures, a leading literature importation, distribution and marketing organization in Nigeria, and Sonia Draga, publisher, founder and president of the Sonia Draga Publishing Group and Bookstores in Poland, during the panel. 

See Peter’s full presentation.

Nadia Wassef, one of the owners and co-founders of Diwan, Egypt’s first modern bookshop, has shared her industry experience in a keynote at the Sharjah International Booksellers Conference 2022

In her speech, Nadia recounted the story of Diwan, Egypt’s leading bookseller and the country’s first modern bookshop. Diwan was founded in 2002, offering its visitors something new: aside from books, music, films and stationery, customers had a chance to enjoy a relaxing break in the bookshop’s café.

Since its founding two decades ago, Diwan has gone through many challenges and various transformations, but it has always stayed true to its values, placing great importance on its character and identity. In her keynote, Nadia stressed just how important it is for a bookshop to be conscious of its identity and to find effective ways of sharing it with potential customers: “The export of our identities to our readers, customers, target audiences, through whichever means we can enlist, engenders a realization about the role of booksellers: we don’t just sell books; we strike up conversations.”

The emphasis that Diwan places on readers and on creating a dialogue is also reflected in the selection and training of its staff: “Our greatest asset, as booksellers, isn’t the choices we make about which books we line our shelves with, but the people we choose to champion them. The booksellers we in our turn recruit, train, and empower are vital to our ecosystems.”

And what does the owner of Diwan advise to other booksellers? “My advice will always be to take the gamble of innovation because it is the only insurance policy against the future worth having. Develop your bookstore’s identity in an unexpected way, surprise yourself and your reader.”

Read the full speech given by Nadia Wassef at the recent International Booksellers Conference in Sharjah

In this guest blog post, Secretary General of Intergraf Beatrice Klose explores the impacts of paper shortage on the wider book industry 

After two years of rolling lockdowns, Europe is finally able to take a (maskless!) breath. Shops are open, events are taking place, and we are rediscovering the pleasure of in-person connections. Rising demand for print goes together with a healthy economy, so the reopening of our societies should be offering much-needed relief to printing companies. But although the printing industry is experiencing a predictable rise in demand for printed products (particularly books), recovery is being stifled by the lack of availability of our sector’s primary raw material: paper.

For the last six months, few printing companies have been able to secure the quantity of paper they need to fulfil all orders. The shortage has been exacerbated by the diminishing capacity of paper producers – particularly those producing graphic paper, which lost more than 25% of capacity between 2016 and 2021. Shrinking capacity was already an ongoing trend, with COVID-19 speeding up the process. But of course, the pandemic was only temporary. Demand for paper is now rising and paper producers no longer have enough capacity to supply the market. The price of paper has also been an issue since mid-2021, when paper producers implemented unexpected, steep price increases due to rising energy costs. For some printers, paper prices have gone up 100% compared to one year ago. This has created the perfect storm for printing companies and their supply chain.

Paper shortages are threatening publications printing (e.g., books, newspapers, magazines, and advertising), and board shortages are threatening packaging printing. Time-sensitive products are particularly at risk, as well as many essential products like food, medicine, and schoolbooks. Some printing companies reported that at the beginning of the year 40% of the paper they needed could not be obtained. One large sheetfed printer from Germany stated that “we can foresee missing amounts of paper of up to 15% of our planned production in 2022”. Another Swedish printer warned: “We have financial pressure both from customers and now also from our suppliers. We are struggling to keep our margin and with pressure from both ways this is really a challenge.”

Paper is a critically important raw material. Such alarming shortages and price increases will have an enormous effect on printers, their customers, and their supply chain – not to mention on wider society. Printers are working closely with their customers – notably with book publishers – to find the best solutions, and everyone is helping each other. But with many printers now being forced to handle only the most urgent orders, a crisis is underway, and the production of essential products is at risk.

Intergraf, the European trade association for the printing industry, has taken various actions to draw attention to this emergency, as have our member associations across Europe. We call on the European regulator to acknowledge the seriousness of this situation, and to secure a sufficient supply of raw materials to facilitate the continuous production of essential goods – goods that serve European citizens in their daily lives and are key conveyors of information, education, and culture in Europe. Most critically, we call for a significant reduction in exports of pulp and paper to third countries, and the safeguarding of sufficient production capacity to ensure the autonomy of Europe’s printing and publishing industries.

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The European printing industry is made up of some 112,000 printing companies (95% SMEs), which employ 640,000 people, and generate a combined turnover of €82 billion (EU27 + UK; CH; NO).

Intergraf is the European printing industry association, representing employers. We are a Brussels-based umbrella organisation with 20 members from 19 countries. Our primary task is to advocate for the printing industry in Europe, working with European Union to support the sector’s competitiveness through advocacy, information-sharing, networking, social dialogue, and European projects.