Culture Minister Andras Demeter said on Wednesday that on his list of priorities also included is the issue of the implications of the VAT increase on books, which he will try to resolve "when the situation allows."
"The VAT increase on books is on my list of priorities, when the situation allows. On the same list of priorities is the state of our libraries, starting with the Book Collection that can no longer be enriched as it should be and continuing with the spaces whose maintenance and transformation into attractive places have seen resources dwindle to the point of disappearing. We are all aware of the challenges posed by digital networks and the attraction, seen by some as fatal, of new media. However, we must also note that the new agora is no longer only spoken, it has an important written and therefore read component. We can also see how the long-standing tradition of subtitling films rather than dubbing them, established here since the early days of the audiovisual industry, is being reconfirmed by the contemporary symbiosis between storytelling through sound and image and its written transcription or complement. This too, through a natural process, contributes not only to facilitating the learning of foreign languages and opening up to those cultures, but also to developing reading and writing skills," Andras Demeter said at the official opening of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair, held at the Radio Romania stand within the fair.
According to the minister, "the list of problems is immense, just as long as the list of solutions and the people with whom they can be implemented, and each problem, solution or person is like a page in a book, a separate page, with no impact and perhaps no value on its own."
He also brought to mind the results of the latest Cultural Consumption Barometer, launched a week ago, which "may nonetheless bring lovers of metaphors back to reality."
However, the Minister of Culture mentioned that "year after year, the book market in Romania has grown."
He congratulated the organisers of "the longest-running book fair in Romania."
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The 32nd edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair opened on Wednesday in Pavilion B2 of the Romexpo Exhibition Centre, offering a true literary feast proposed by more than 180 participants who will bring readers over 600 publishing events.
More than 600 publishing events will take place both in the six dedicated spaces inside the venue and at exhibitors' stands, including book launches and presentations, editorial projects, debates, meetings with authors and autograph sessions.
The visiting schedule of the Fair, open to all book lovers until 7 December, will be daily from 10:00 to 20:00, with free public access.
The event is organised by the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, with the 2025 Bucharest edition of the fair concluding, once again, according to tradition, the series of book and education exhibitions held by the public broadcaster in Craiova, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Buzau, Brasov, Sibiu and Iasi.
Gaudeamus is a cultural project funded by the Ministry of Culture.
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