The Vice-President of the Commission responsible for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, detailed, on Monday 15, the content of the recent communication on disinformation related to the Covid-19 pandemic to the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) (see EUROPE 12503/1).
Reacting on this subject, the political group coordinators expressed concern notably about the issue of education.
On behalf of the EPP group, Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė called on the Commission to prepare a “major plan for teaching history in European schools”. It is necessary to face up to the “manipulations of history”, she said, referring to the recent statements by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, about collusion between pre-war Poland and Nazi Germany (see EUROPE 12483/22).
Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany), for her part, felt that “media literacy” should be a fundamental part of education in all schools. She deplored the fact that more and more citizens find it difficult to distinguish between reliable information and false information.
Ms Jourová agreed that the EU should “make efforts in the field of education and teaching”, particularly on the teaching of 20th century history.
There have also been calls for greater transparency, on the part of both governments and the Commission.
Sophie in 't Veld (Renew Europe, Netherlands) thus stressed the importance of ensuring that citizens can once again have confidence in the authorities' ability to provide reliable information. “You talked about transparency, but it is very difficult to get access to European Commission documents”, she regretted.
Protecting journalists and supporting investigation
Asked about press freedom, the Vice-President of the Commission conceded that more support for independent journalism was needed.
MEPs addressed the issue of the protection and independence of journalists in even more detail when they presented an own-initiative report on press freedom, entrusted to Magdalena Adamowicz (EPP, Poland).
The latter expressed concern about the stranglehold of some national political parties on the public media, the intimidation of journalists and the omnipotence of online platforms, which she said were being exploited “shamelessly” for political purposes.
Ms Adamowicz stressed the need to defend freedom of expression while bearing in mind that “it is sometimes under the guise of this freedom that one expresses oneself in order to manipulate”.
In particular, she called for better protection of journalists and more financial support for investigative journalism, and invited the Commission to present a proposal on the Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP).
The shadow rapporteurs, as well as the representatives of the Committee on Culture and Education associated with this work, welcomed the work carried out by Magdalena Adamowicz. Elena Yoncheva (S&D, Bulgaria) called the draft report “an excellent basis”, but said more ambition was needed on press freedom.
Several groups stressed the issue of funding. Ramona Strugariu (Renew Europe, Romania), joined on this point by the left, insisted that “we need a permanent fund for journalists, a mechanism that will allow us to finance their projects”.
Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA, Sweden), for her part, pointed out that forms of violence against journalists varied according to their gender, with women journalists facing gender-based violence. Therefore, she considered it “necessary” that the report be enriched with “a gender perspective”. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)