Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires
CEATL
CEATL is an international non-profit association (AISBL) under Belgian law, officially created in 1993 as a platform where literary translators’ associations from different European countries could exchange views and information, and join forces to improve status and working conditions of literary translators.
ID: 65913704675-82
Lobbying Activity
Response to A Culture Compass for Europe
6 May 2025
Now more than ever and in the years to come, cultural policies will be fundamental for Europe to stand out as a beacon of knowledge, freedom, equity and openness, the condition for this being that humans and human creation be kept at the centre of all cultural decisions. A regulatory environment that respects existing copyright law is what Europe cannot go without if it is to foster a competitive, ethical, and human-centric AI landscape in Europe. This can only be done (1) if the DSM directive is firmly applied and monitored in all Member States, making sure that authors receive everywhere an appropriate and proportionate remuneration for their work (art. 18) and that transparency obligations are respected (art.19); (2) if the EC heeds the multiple demands of creators federations regarding the Code of Practice for GPAI. The CoP should keep human authors and creators at the forefront and be a tool that helps ensure that their rights are respected. The multiple and complex competences literary translation requires are outlined in the PETRA-E Framework of Reference for the Education and Training of Literary Translators: https://petra-educationframework.eu/ The needs and priorities of the field of literary translation have been identified and itemized in the OMC report Translators on the Cover Multilingualism & Translation and in the Report of CEATLs 2024 European Conference on Literary translation at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (https://www.ceatl.eu/achievements/strasbourg-conference). They can be summarized as follows: (1) It is necessary to invest in early-stage education in order to develop vocational passion for the profession. Language teaching at the school and university level is key, as well as initial and continuous training for translators. Universities and state bodies are crucial to the survival of languages. Everywhere in Europe, the fall of students in languages is a concern. Collaboration between organisations and professional translators (mentoring initiatives, residencies etc.) should be promoted as much as possible. The multiple and complex competences literary translation requires are outlined in the PETRA-E Framework of Reference for the Education and Training of Literary Translators: https://petra-educationframework.eu/ (2) Language equality should also be a focus of European cultural policies such as Creative Europes Circulation of European Literary Works programme. Fostering the writing, publication and translation of works from and into all languages (24 official languages and more than 60 indigenous languages) means fostering the circulation of ideas and critical thinking. (3) Many cases of infringements of the free circulation of books or attacks on freedom of expression of authors, journalists or book professionals have been observed even the in EU recently, and Europe must continue to be a haven where they can be read, heard and supported. (4) European organisations are in dire need of data on rights and translation markets. The Aldus Up project (cofounded by Creative Europe) did produce interesting information and revealed huge gaps between countries, but it already dates back to 2022 and was only conducted in 8 countries. What remains to be done, therefore, is to extend and flesh out the studies already carried out in order to support a healthy circulation of literary works,. (5) The ability to read and to read critically is a fundamental human right, but more than 75 million Europeans cannot properly read and write. We applaud the recent initiatives of Creative Europe in this matter (Day of European Authors, European Book Day, Culture Moves Europe programme, EUPL) and we will be glad to cooperate in such initiatives whenever and however possible.
Read full responseMeeting with Guglielmo Di Cola (Cabinet of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel)
24 Jan 2020 · General Assembly