Threats to media freedom in one country are threats to the whole EU, Vĕra Jourova, European Commission Vice-President-designate for Values and Transparency, told MEPs in response to their written questions.
One of the questions she was asked by MEPs was whether she will take concrete measures to improve the working environment for journalists and to prevent attacks against journalists and ensure their safety, including via EU-wide anti-SLAPP legislation, and what concrete measures she seeks to put in place to ensure that targeted assassinations of investigative journalists such as Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak are prevented from occurring and better investigated in Member States.
Jourova said that media freedom, including the safety of journalists, is a key pillar of democracies, next to rule of law, fundamental rights and separation of powers.
“Media freedom and pluralism is a condition sine qua non for upholding freedom of expression and the right to information. Without a free media, corruption and abuse of power can flourish unchecked. That is why I believe threats to media freedom in one country are threats to the whole EU. I am ready to have new ambition on this front and engage with the European Parliament, the member states, the media and other stakeholders to identify common solutions and stronger European response to threats.”
The Commission condemned in the strongest possible terms the assassinations of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, she said, adding that their deaths are a stain on Europe’s democratic consciousness.
“I personally raised these serious crimes with the Maltese and Slovak authorities on multiple occasions in my capacity as Justice Commissioner. I also had the honour of meeting the journalists’ families and colleagues. The Commission has already made it clear that it expects independent and thorough investigations in both cases and urges the responsible Slovak and Maltese authorities to continue the ongoing investigations up and until the proceedings can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion and justice served.”
“Member States remain primarily responsible for ensuring internal security and the Commission has no competence to intervene in individual national investigations. It is however important to also recall that case law of the European Court of Human Rights requires member states to ensure that there is no impunity against the perpetrators of physical attacks on journalists and that effective investigations are carried out. Systemic problems on this matter have also a rule of law dimension.”
“Besides this, as the threats to Europe’s citizens are increasingly cross-border in nature, information exchange and the operational cooperation among Member States and EU agencies are of key importance. The European Arrest Warrant is also a key tool in this context. Examples where cross-border organised crime may have been involved in cases involving pressure on the media show once again how deepening law enforcement cooperation on the lines set out in the political guidelines is of great importance for the stability and security of our societies as a whole.”
Turning to the issue of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), she said that they can be considered as an abuse of defamation laws. “In particular, I am aware that such lawsuits can amount to a misuse of the law which makes it possible to threaten journalists with lawsuits that would be too expensive to fight – even in cases where the lawsuits have little or no chance of succeeding – which can create a chilling effect and are therefore a threat to media freedom. I therefore consider that this issue is of direct relevance to my portfolio and the combination of questions at the intersection of private international law, public policy and media freedom deserve deeper analysis.”
