France delays on Frankfurt invitation

As if French president François Hollande did not have enough problems, the Frankfurt Book Fair’s invitation for France to be guest of honour in 2017 is one more to add to the pile.

The invitation was issued in July 2013, but France has still not replied. Under pressure, the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE) finally issued a statement late on September 10th, saying it was "very honoured" to receive "this prestigious invitation", but that it would be up to the state to finance the event. The new culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, has not commented, but is expected to reply shortly.

"There is nothing in it for the government," commented a source, who asked not to be identified. "French and German culture officials meet regularly and agree on all the major issues facing the book sector." The cost of occupying the guest of honour stand is estimated at between €8m and €9m, and is difficult to justify now that France is slating spending cuts of €50bn by 2017 to help reduce its massive deficits, he said.

"The money has not been factored in to the next three-year culture budget, and would anyway be better spent on bringing European culture ministers together to work out a common policy for books," the official added. Furthermore, the invitation offers no potential political gain for France, since the next presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in 2017 several months before the fair.

But Yannick Poirier, who owns the Tschann bookstore in central Paris, believes France should not pass up the opportunity to be showcased at the world’s leading publishing market. In an open letter sent to Livres Hebdo and ActuaLitté, he said "the international prestige of our publishers well deserves this effort."