This is nothing but corruption, giving those select members of the quango a cash-cow at the expense of both the authors and society.
The article by the AFUL explains it well: http://aful.org/communiques/french-senate-proposes-to-legali...
Similarly, an author can assert their rights and ask for a republished book to be removed from sale, something which would not be possible if works were made public domains.
I'm not saying this a good idea, just that this is why they're not just removing the copyright from the works.
To me it looks like the incentives are not really in place for that.
1) If the authors are already present, registered, in touch, etc... they're already getting paid.
2) If the authors "can't be found", the big bureaucracy gets to keep the cash.
Italy has a 'collective management organization, the SIAE, and the thing is pretty much pure evil.