After a first exchange with stakeholders at the end of March (see EUROPE 12684/27), the European Commission opened on Thursday 22 April a public consultation on its draft recommendation to Member States on the safety of journalists.
In its Democracy Action Plan (see EUROPE 12615/1), the institution committed itself to presenting such a recommendation by the end of the year, so that a “European standard for the protection of journalists” could be established, in the words of the Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton.
Among the measures on which the Commission is asking for feedback, some concern, for example, training and awareness-raising for the police and the judiciary, said Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourová.
Work is also underway within the Commission on a proposal for ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’ - or ‘SLAPPs’ (see EUROPE 12689/22). All this at a time when the EU appears to be powerless to protect the increasingly threatened freedom of the press (see EUROPE 12702/28).
The public consultation on the future recommendation is open until 20 May. To access: https://bit.ly/3veeeQL (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)