Parliament's Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy supported an appeal to Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky on the need for urgent measures to support the book publishing industry, Deputy Committee Chair Yevheniia Kravchuk said.
"The committee also supported holding a separate meeting to review the implementation of already-adopted laws on the book industry. The problem today is not just that new decisions need to be made. Many necessary mechanisms already exist, but they still are not working," Kravchuk said on Facebook Tuesday.
Ukrainian publishers currently need concrete solutions, Kravchuk said. The production component of the book industry needs state support to prevent a wave of publisher bankruptcies by year-end, she emphasized.
"The book industry is not just business. It is education, culture, historical memory and our information security. And right now it needs an urgent support plan," the deputy committee chair said.
A rental compensation mechanism for bookstores has yet to begin operating, and a state book procurement program for libraries is essentially non-functional, Kravchuk said. She stressed the need to reform the library network rather than reduce or close libraries.
Kravchuk recalled that recent Russian attacks have inflicted massive losses on the book industry, destroying print houses, warehouses, books and thousands of textbooks that were to reach Ukrainian schoolchildren.
