Paris (AFP)
The hearing at the Paris Commercial Court for the distributor Presstalis, which was scheduled for Friday, has been postponed to May 12, after the confinement, the group told AFP.
The main press distributor in France, Presstalis filed for bankruptcy Monday against a backdrop of persistent disagreement over the rescue solutions between its major shareholders, magazines and daily newspapers.
"The discussions have advanced well, I call on the publishers to find with Presstalis the arrangements that will allow them to build a project that meets expectations," Culture Minister Franck Riester said on Thursday during a hearing at the Assembly. national.
"There has been a cessation of payment which does not call into question the distribution of the press in the short term, but there is an urgency to register the distribution of the press in the future, for all actors in the press chain ", he added.
"It is a complicated negotiation because you have the daily newspapers, the magazines, the CGT of the Book and the State", detailed Friday Frédérick Cassegrain, director of the publication of the weekly Marianne and president of the cooperative of distribution of magazines , guest on Europe 1.
A conciliation period between the various stakeholders is open until April 30.
"Presstalis owes 120 million euros to press publishers, for many titles, it is the death announced, the Covid crisis which arrives at the same time accentuates this fragility. I think we will have dozens and dozens of press titles which will have to close due to the negligence of Presstalis ", he was alarmed.
The cooperative of magazines and the MLP (Messageries lyonnaises de presse, competitor of Presstalis), propose a separation of magazines and daily newspapers, while the management of Presstalis defends the maintenance of a single structure (which would continue to distribute daily newspapers as well than the magazine press), an option supported by daily newspapers.
The SGLCE-CGT union also prefers the latter option, even if it warns in a press release that "a certain number of obstacles remain to be overcome", adding that "Presstalis employees cannot be reduced to counting the points between the publishers of daily press and those of magazines who clash around several projects. "
The Syndicate of the Association of Press Publishers (SAEP), which brings together mainly specialized magazines and publications, has announced that it has seized the Competition Authority "in order to confirm that the terms of the restructuring plan (...) are contrary to the rules of competition and free trade. "
The Authority clarified to AFP that it had however not received a referral Friday afternoon.
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