The Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, said in a press interview on Monday 3 May that she planned to visit Slovenia to “test the water and to start the dialogue” before unveiling some of the European initiatives announced concerning freedom of the press (see EUROPE 12615/1).
Slovenia will hold the rotating Presidency of the EU Council from 1 July for six months.
It will therefore be at the helm when the Commission submits to the EU-27 its draft recommendation on the safety of journalists (see EUROPE 12705/25) - expected in September - as well as its initiative on ‘gagging procedures’ (see EUROPE 12689/22).
“I would like to speak with Prime Minister Janša”, Ms Jourová added. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša’s behaviour towards the media is causing great concern (see EUROPE 12687/1).
While the Slovenian case is of concern, the increasing restrictions on freedom of information are now a widespread problem in the EU. This was reported by Reporters Without Borders on 20 April (see EUROPE 12702/28) and underlined by several members of the European Commission on Monday, on World Press Freedom Day.
To mark this date, the European Parliament, for its part, exchanged views with a number of European journalists whose testimonies only confirmed this observation.
Italian Federica Angeli, for example, spoke of her life under permanent protection and “the fear that never goes away” since she started investigating the Roman mafia.
Telex.hu’s deputy editor Veronika Munk spoke to MEPs about the situation in Hungary.
“Journalists are not imprisoned or being murdered, but it is very difficult to obtain information. The government tries to make our work difficult, sometimes impossible”, by preventing journalists from attending press conferences or simply refusing to answer their questions, she explained. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)