‘There is a predominant feeling that Brussels mainly responds to the Polish and Hungarian provocations with words’ – Wereld
A Filipino and Russian journalist receives the Nobel Peace Prize. This is a warning to Europe, the press is not equally free everywhere in the EU.
The informal summit of the European Union in head of state last week on a false. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel were suddenly questioned by local journalists about Jansa turning off the money tap to the national news agency to force it into step with his government. Containing that to an embarrassing display, in which Jansa divides his political …
The informal summit of the European Union in head of state last week on a false. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel were suddenly questioned by local journalists about Jansa turning off the money tap to the national news agency to force it into step with his government. Containing that to an embarrassing display, with a few yards away criticizing his approach. At the informal summit the EU’s relations with the six countries of the discussed Balkans will be discussed. They all want to join the Union, but it makes little sense at the moment for enlargement. The EU that the countries must first take steps towards the development of a rule of law and a practical implementation of democracy. To which the Slovenian journalists on the Slove asked von der Leyen and Michel why they demand so much from those countries, they fail to allow the rule of law and freedom of the press in the EU. She takes that comment to Poland, where the highest court ruled last week that European law is not superior to that of Poland. Warsaw is disappearing as a pillar under the entire European construction. The journalists also pointed to Jan’s policy, which is reflected in the way his Hungarian colleague Viktor Orban deals with freedom of the press. Critical voices are first strangled financially and then pushed into the hands of loyal entrepreneurs. Compliant media get massive government advertisements, critical voices get nothing. The system is gradually getting more imitated. There is a predominant feeling that Brussels reacts mainly with words to the Polish and Hungarian provocations. As is so often the case in European politics, the situation is complex. Poland is not just an origin and the United States on it getting out and about. As for freedom of expression, Ursula von der Leyen is quick to contextualize a Media Freedom Act for the entire Union. She can claim the Nobel Peace Prize, which this year will be awarded to journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov because democracy needs a free press. Not just in the Philippines or in Russia, where the two come from, but also in the Union itself.