More than 80 MEPs, mainly from the Renew Europe group, sent a letter to the European Commission on Friday 12 February denouncing both the Polish government’s proposed tax on media advertising revenue and the suspension in Hungary of the broadcasting licence of the independent radio station Klubrádió (see EUROPE 12655/26).
These decisions “are nothing more than attacks on media pluralism, which we strongly condemn”, write the MEPs, stressing the “disastrous” state of the media ecosystem in Europe, which is facing losses in advertising revenue estimated at “between 30% and 80%” in the context of the economic crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The signatories therefore call on the European institution to “ensure appropriate, effective and concrete follow-up” to these two issues and, more broadly, to strengthen its efforts (see EUROPE 12615/2) to “fight against policy measures aimed at weakening the good health of independent media outlets, and therefore the Rule of law”.
On Monday 15 February, a spokesperson for the Rule of law, Christian Wigand, confirmed that the Commission had written on Friday to the Hungarian Permanent Representation to the EU to “express its concerns about Klubrádió” and to ask the Hungarian authorities to ensure that the radio station could continue broadcasting.
See the MEPs’ letter: http://bit.ly/3b7bEDJ (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)