The European ministers responsible for audiovisual affairs met on Tuesday 29 November in the framework of the ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council (EYCS). The Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU took the opportunity to report on the progress of work on theMedia Freedom Act (EMFA) (see EUROPE 13069/23).
Present at the discussion, European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová said she “hopes for a political agreement (general approach) under the Swedish Presidency” of the EU Council, which will run from January to June 2023. “Media companies are not just another actor of the internal market […] they play a key role for democracy, and this is why they need a specific internal market instrument to protect them”, she argued.
Reservations about the EMFA
The 18 ministers who spoke affirmed their support for the general objectives of the proposal and expressed their readiness to engage in a “constructive” debate... but with reservations. “We have to touch upon all aspects of this proposal: legal conditions for media service providers, better cooperation among independent regulators, stronger editorial independence and stable finances of public media services. I think that we can […] continue to cooperate in drawing up a realistic final version that will be of benefit to us all”, Slovenia summarised.
Not surprisingly, several Member States, including Croatia, Austria and Romania, raised the issue of subsidiarity. Austria questioned the “room for manoeuvre” left to countries “on advertising and public broadcasting”, while Germany insisted on the benefits of its “federalised public media system that is independent from centralised pressures”.
EMFA “introduces considerable harmonisation within an area not previously subjected to EU regulation”, Denmark also warned, calling for caution regarding media independence. The same is true for France, which wants “a balance between the need to ensure appropriate media regulation and the need to allow the media to exercise their prerogative in full independence”. For Finland, “self-regulation” must remain “a key concept to ensure independence”. More categorically, Hungary supported general principles, but asked to “refrain from regulating details in this field”.
Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Malta, Belgium, Ireland and Cyprus were less reluctant and welcomed better European cooperation in this area.
Russian propaganda
Finally, Lithuania stressed that “the information space of the EU is being attacked by Russian war propaganda” and that the EMFA “is a valuable instrument to fight disinformation from third countries”. Indeed, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland also raised the issue of the transmission of Russian propaganda channels by EU satellite service providers in the EYCS Council.
“We ask the European Commission to act. The majority of Russian channels have been stopped, but there are still some of them which are available on the satellite platforms”, Polish Culture Minister Piotr Gliński told EUROPE. He said he was in favour, in particular, of new sanctions.
Věra Jourová provided assurances that the Commission is looking into the matter, while calling on member states and companies to “fully” implement the current sanctions on Russian media.
Beyond sanctions, a European Parliament study published in November looks at how better implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive could improve the EU’s defence against propaganda (see EUROPE 13063/29). Ms Jourová and Member States considered that the European Board for Media Services provided for in the EMFA could play a role in coordinating national measures in this respect. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)