On Tuesday 17 October, the European Parliament awarded the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism 2023 to Solomon (Greece), Forensis (Germany), The Guardian (UK) and ARD (Germany) for their investigation into the sinking of the Adriana, a ship carrying illegal migrants, in June 2023 (see EUROPE 13270/34).
The investigation “showed how violent and restrictive EU migration policies are, ultimately responsible for massive loss of lives”, said co-author Iliana Papangeli. Juliane Hielscher, President of the Berlin Press Club and jury representative, praised the work for highlighting dysfunctions within the EU.
Present at the ceremony, held in Strasbourg alongside the plenary session, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Vice-President Pina Picierno (S&D, Italian) reaffirmed their commitment to a safe and free media environment, including through legislation such as the Media Freedom Act and the anti-SLAPPs Directive.
The competition is held annually in memory of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered in 2017. As last year, MEPs will hold a debate on the subject and, more broadly, on the rule of law in Malta on Wednesday, with a resolution to be voted on the following day (see EUROPE 13047/12).
Read the report “Under the unwatchful eye of the authorities’ deactivated cameras: dying in the darkest depths of the Mediterranean”: https://aeur.eu/f/93h (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)