French minister announces €5 million fund for loans to booksellers

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 Books+Publishing

In France, Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti has announced the creation of a €5 million (A$6.2 million) fund for loans to booksellers, reports the Bookseller. While announcing various measures that will be implemented to preserve the French book industry, Filippetti added that, in addition to the fund for loans to booksellers with ‘cashflow problems’, the association that subsidises booksellers, the ADELC, will have its budget increased from €4 million (A$4.96 million) to €7 million (A$8.68 million). Filippetti said the government wants to ensure that France ‘never suffers the same fate as the United States’ with ‘the collapse of several [bookshop] chains’ and the resulting difficulties for publishers. The fund is one of the measures to help the French book industry that was recommended by French president François Hollande earlier this month.

Category: International news