On Monday 17 September, European Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn warned that the Western Balkans would not accede to the EU if freedom of the media and the environment in which journalists work did not improve.
"There will be no accession without the safeguard of media freedom and journalists' being granted a working environment exempt from intimidation and pressure", he said at the Western Balkans Media Days that were organised in Skopje.
Hahn said the issue of press freedom had been discussed with the authorities of the Western Balkans countries and that the Commission was working with them "to support concrete improvements and reforms".
He thus denounced the violence against journalists that is on the rise. "According to data from the regional platform for the defence of media freedom and the security of journalists, eleven cases of physical aggression against journalists have been recorded in the Western Balkans just this year", Hahn said. He added that the indecisive attitude of those who are responsible for the search and condemnation of those responsible creates a terrifying climate of impunity that has a significant impact on the freedom and independence of journalists. "Media freedom cannot exist without an independent and functional judicial system", he said.
"Although the responsibility of granting appropriate conditions for media freedom clearly falls to governments, there is also the responsibility of maintaining high standards of quality as a real firewall against political polarisation", Hahn said.
He thus said it was important to have quality journalism. In the face of the challenges of changes in the media landscape, "the standards of professional journalism must be maintained in all forms of press publications, be they print or online", he said, stating that the EU would set up a new regional training programme for journalists by the end of the year.
Hahn said citizens must also learn to distinguish between quality content and the circulation of false news. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)