The European Union and the Balkans form the geographical area with the second largest decrease in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, published on Thursday 18 April by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), with a 1.7% increase in abuses committed against journalists between 2018 and 2019. Nevertheless, Europe remains the continent that best guarantees press freedom.
According to RWB, several Member States are among those that best respect press freedom: Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands are ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively out of 180 countries.
But the EU as a whole is increasingly heterogeneous with respect to press freedom, particularly because of the “illiberal democracies”, the “fight against terrorism” and the “economic crisis”.
RWB points out in particular that, “in East and South Europe, with a few exceptions, the picture is catastrophic”.
Among Member States, press freedom has deteriorated drastically in Hungary (87th), Malta (77th) and Slovakia (35th), three Member States that have lost 14, 12 and 8 places respectively since 2018. Romania also shows a significant decline from 44th to 47th place, while Poland continues to fall in the ranking for the fourth consecutive year (59th, -1). Bulgaria, which occupies 111thplace, remains “bottom of the class” in the EU.
For RWB, this weakening of press freedom in Europe goes hand in hand with institutional erosion embodied by increasingly authoritarian powers.
And the organisation insists: “Murders, attempted killings or physical and verbal attacks; European journalists are subjected to many forms of intimidation and pressure and increasing judicial harassment”. The recent murders of three journalists in Malta, Slovakia and Bulgaria are listed by way of example.
Finally, outside the EU, Norway has risen to the top of the ranking, while Turkmenistan is now last, replacing North Korea.
To read the RWB ranking: https://bit.ly/1YGtJug (Damien Genicot - internship)