Catherine Pgard at the National Assembly: “Culture is a combat sport”

A first grand oral awaited Catherine Pégard, this Wednesday, May 6, at the National Assembly. The Cultural Affairs Commission in fact heard about his roadmap, several weeks after his appointment to the Ministry of Culture. Despite current events dominated by the publication of the report of the commission of inquiry into public broadcasting, the book was one of the subjects addressed by the deputies and the tenant of rue de Valois.

In her introductory remarks, Catherine Pégard began by taking note of the decline in the resources of her ministry, the consequence of a “ budgetary debate dictated by renewed constraints that we must face ”. He thus takes “ its share of the effort required of all », more   the announcement of additional restraint on decentralized credits would lead to consequences that are difficult to sustain, as I recently indicated to the Minister of Budget », a-t-elle précisé.

The former president of the Château de Versailles claims to be well aware of the economic difficulties encountered by the cultural sector: she thus admits that the heritage establishment would have been in cessation of payments, in the second half of 2023, “ if the State had not decided on a recovery plan unique in the world ».

Asked about the drop in funds allocated to the National Book Center, Catherine Pégard assured that she wanted to keep it  as a vector of our book policy, he has done a very good job and must continue to do so ».

Promising to “ fight » during the upcoming budget negotiations for 2027, the Minister of Culture also wishes  increase consultation between the state and elected officials », « develop transversality » between territories and  encourage the circulation of artists, productions and works and, at the same time, roots in places, illustrated by artist residencies ».

Artistic and cultural education at the center

Faced with sometimes moribund statistics in terms of reading practices, the Minister of Culture intends to provide artistic and cultural education “ a very important element of the policy that I intend to pursue ». « At a time of the omnipresence of screens, I am convinced that the EAC is not only a condition for the dynamism of our model, but that it is also a question of what France and the French will be tomorrow Â,” she continued, calling the culture “ combat sports ».

Convinced of the importance of the Culture pass, she believes that it is now necessary to “ stabilize the resources dedicated to it and perpetuate them » and is also considering consultation with the Ministry of National Education, the rectors and the regional directorates of cultural affairs  to strengthen and prioritize our systems ».

READ – In the Senate, the book ecosystem unfolds its anxieties and annoyances

Public libraries will likely be associated with this project, through partnerships  in order to take young people to libraries after school and develop a taste for reading », according to the minister. « I asked the CNL to make a sort of hierarchy of the operations that have been carried out to measure those that are the most effective and try to develop them as much as possible across all territories. Â,” she concluded on the subject.

Assignment or conscience clause?

Another current topic, the dismissal of Olivier Nora, ex-CEO of Éditions Grasset, by shareholder Vincent Bolloré, was also invited to the hearing of the tenant of rue de Valois. Asked by Dorine Bregman (Paris, Socialists and Related), Catherine Pégard assured that the question was being studied by the ministry’s services, as she had already indicated a few days ago, in the Senate.

However, she went a little further, in front of the deputies: “…I think we need to look at these legal issues by taking a little time. Some deputies would be ready to propose a new law to integrate this question or the conscience clause or the transfer clause or both in a debate which could occupy the national representation, I am in any case in favor, we must take into account the difficulties that certain authors encounter today. »

A few hours after the demonstration of artist authors organized by the SNAP CGT union at the Ministry of Culture, the governance of social security for artist authors was also mentioned, this time by MP Soumya Bourouaha (Seine…Saint-Denis, Left Democratic and Republican).

The latter returned to the hijacking of the vote of the National Assembly, pointed out by several organizations of artist authors: “ We did not want collective management organizations [OGC] integrate the bodies of the association governing the social rights of artists, with or without deliberative voice ”, she recalled, noting that the first elements of the implementing decree, on the contrary, would reserve a significant place for these same OGCs.

On the organization of professional elections to designate representatives within this same governance, the deputy pointed out that “ no budget line [n’a été] allocated nor digital platform being developed“and declare”a desire to trample on the legislator »

In response, Catherine Pégard persists and signs: “ We have respected the will of parliament, the decree will be submitted to the Council of State, which will be responsible for verifying its compliance with the law. “According to her, “…the place of OGC is consultative only, not deliberative ”. As for the professional elections, the project will be submitted “ in consultation with artist-author organizations and taken by the end of the year, as provided for by law ».

IA : « Three vigilantes ”, without going into a “ faux combat »

The first signals sent by Catherine Pégard on artificial intelligence may have strained the cultural industries: during the debate on the proposed law on the presumption of use of cultural content by AI suppliers, intended to curb the deregulated exploitation of works for the training of large language models, she had been very cautious, without expressing a favorable or unfavorable opinion. The appointment of a former Google employee as an artificial intelligence and digital advisor had also questioned.

Artificial intelligence, the minister conceded, represents a “ brutal upheaval of our society ». « We are right to fear revolutions Â,” continued the former president of the Château de Versailles — a professional deformation  ? –, nevertheless recalling that “ photography made people fear the death of painting, cinema announced the death of photography, and then television made people fear the disappearance of cinema ».

« I believe in the immense capacity of our artists and creators to embrace AI in an ethical, creative and surprising way Â,” she said, acknowledging the concrete questions posed by AI: “ We must be vigilant, while avoiding entering into a false fight, that of innovation against creation. » To preserve copyright, she therefore prefers “ collective bargaining mechanisms, rather than […] endless disputes ”, which she assures she wants to leave to American companies.  I think that if we already had a united front between our European AI companies, the creative world, and our authors, I believe we would take a big step. »

Other open sites

Catherine Pégard’s intervention also mentioned the delicate situation of independent bookstores at the start of 2026, after an already complex year 2025.  We are in contact with the publishers’ unions, it is with them that we will try to take the best measures to try to stop this bleeding which may concern bookstores and, ultimately, will concern us all Â,” she assures.

Remember that the French Bookstore Union (SLF) is calling for greater solidarity within the book chain, and especially from publishers and distributors, accused of favoring platforms and large cultural stores to the detriment of independent bookstores. The SLF recalls in this respect that the law on the single price of books provides precisely the opposite, i.e. better commercial conditions for bookstores.

READ – Fall in sales and increase in costs: 2026 is off to a bad start in bookstores

Asked about a tax on sales of second-hand books, the Minister of Culture indicates that it is “ difficult to set up a new system for second-hand books ”, in reference to the reservations expressed by the Council of State on the subject.  We are in the process of raising awareness in the European Parliament through a written question which will be asked very soon, we worked on this with the Publishing Union recently Â,” the minister replied.

The complete hearing of Catherine Pégard, from Wednesday May 6, 2026, can be rewatched at this address.

Photograph: Catherine Pégard, May 6, 2026, before the Cultural Affairs Commission of the National Assembly (screenshot)

By Antoine Oury
Contact : ao@actualitte.com