Skopje, 24 October 2024 (MIA) – A two-day regional conference on “EU Enlargement and Copyright Law: What’s next for actors in the Western Balkans?” kicked off on Thursday, with Minister of European Affairs Orhan Murtezani, actor and representative of the Association for the Protection of Copyright and Related Rights AZAS, Gorast Cvetkovski, and Managing Director at AIPA - Collecting Society of Authors, Performers and Producers of Audiovisual Works of Slovenia, Gregor Štibernik, delivering their remarks. 

As pointed out at the beginning of the conference, in order to ensure an equal level of protection for all actors and musicians as the performers in the European Union, on the path to full-fledged EU membership the country will have to implement EU copyright law.

According to Minister Murtezani, to create a sustainable environment for performers, it is necessary to protect their rights, but, he noted, implementation requires collective effort.

"Being part of the EU is not only the beginning for the culture and art network, but it is an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our artists, to our performers and to the future of our creative universe. We must serve to protect the copyright of the people who best create our screens, our stages, and our songs. But it requires action, it requires implementation, and it requires a collective effort to ensure that action is taken and no performance is left behind," said Murtezani. 

Macedonia is a country that does not have as much film production, visual production as Western countries, said the actor Cvetkovski in his address, pointing out that the performers do not get anything from the content that is broadcast on the streaming platforms.

"In these uncertain times for artists, this is extremely important so that we maintain creativity, maintain sustainability, maintain our jobs, our profession, our love and passion. I think we still have a long way to go. This is one of the biggest steps we're taking to introduce people to what's happening in other places. It is very easy when we have certain examples to show the government that it can be done or that it has already been done, and we can implement it and even copy it right here in Macedonia," said Cvetkovski.

Photo: Association for the Protection of Copyright and Related Rights