At the beginning of its thirteenth year of publication, Lateral published its final issue. The reasons for this are not made explicit by the editors, but are not hard to guess. In the editorial, editor-in-chief Robert Juan-Cantavella states that, with its demise, Lateral is just "fulfilling the ultimate destiny of any independent cultural journal worthy of that name, perhaps even the highest of its functions: to disappear".

The founder and director Mihály Dés writes in his column, "The final word (this time it's true!)", that "there are always more reasons for closing a cultural publication than for striving to keep it alive". And he takes pride in the ascertainment that "while twelve years of Lateral have not left their mark on the epoch, the epoch -- governed by a mixture of exhibitionist and industrial culture -- has not left its mark on Lateral".