Pactul pentru Carte (The Pact for Books) is a recently-launched legislative package aimed at doubling the book consumption in Romania over the next two years. The initiative belongs to National Liberal Party (PNL) deputy Ovidiu Raeţchi.

The pact covers such measures as increasing and updating the book endowment of school libraries, implementing campaigns that encourage reading, and the lifting of the VAT for printed books and its decrease to 5% for electronic books.

The pact also foresees a yearly financial help for students and teachers for the purchase of books. Teachers should receive EUR 100 and students EUR 50. The students would receive the money after they graduate from the first year of every school cycle.

Other measures included in the pact are the income tax exemption for people with key jobs in the book industry and the exemption from building and land taxes for the spaces accommodating bookstores. The exemption would apply to bookstores where book sales make up at least 50% of the turnover.

According to a recent Eurostat survey, only 2.8% of the Romanians read one book per month and spend at most EUR 3 for books per year, well below the EUR average, the PNL deputy explained. Data from the National Institute for Culture Research show one in five Romanians never read a book, the deputy added.

“These are just some of the many reasons for which I believe we need, at a national level, a Pact for Books, just as we assumed in 2015 the Pact for Defense,” Raeţchi said.

The deputy also launched an appeal to the Presidency, the Government and the parliamentary parties for a consensus on the topic.

Romania, last in EU for culture expenditure in 2015

editor@romania-insider.com