The Strasbourg-based Observatory is part of the Council of Europe and has been providing facts and figures on the film, television and video industries in Europe since 1992. The Observatory’s yearly rotating presidency changes every January. In 2019 the Presidency was held by Italy.

As the European Audiovisual Observatory’s membership goes beyond Europe, Morocco, a member since May 2014, assumes the organisation’s Presidency for the first time in 2020. Morocco is represented within the Observatory’s governing body, the Executive Council, by Ms Latifa Akharbach, President of the Moroccan Media regulator, HACA. As is traditional for every annual Presidency, the Observatory and the HACA will co-organise a public conference in Rabat on 10 June. The event will focus on new responsibilities for online platforms under the newly revised new EU media legislation (AVMSD). Ms Akharbach, the President of the Observatory’s Executive Council, stated that “Morocco’s 2020 Presidency would enable the HACA to drill deep into current developments in European media legislation and enable a fruitful exchange between Morocco and other Observatory member countries.”

Susanne Nikoltchev, the Observatory’s Executive Director, thanked the outgoing Italian Presidency for “a wonderful year of cooperation and a very useful conference on cinema windows across Europe in Rome.  She looked forward to working with Morocco as “long-time supporters of the Observatory’s work and a dynamic and outward-thinking member”.