Media Freedom Act, towards an agreement before 2024?

On Tuesday 24 October, Sabine Verheyen (EPP, German), rapporteur for the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), reported to the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture (CULT) on the state of negotiations with the Council of the EU.

She provided few details on the exact points of agreement and disagreement, but did not rule out the possibility of concluding negotiations before the end of the year.

“Constructive” discussions

The rapporteur was therefore encouraging, describing the discussions as “constructive”, with converging positions on “a lot of” points, and moving towards a result reflecting Parliament’s position (see EUROPE 13263/6).

However, she stressed that “there are [still] some serious differences of opinion politically” and that a third ‘trilogue’ would “probably” be necessary, although the European Commission and the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council hope to be able to reach an agreement at the second meeting, scheduled for the end of November.

Ms Verheyen also reiterated her priorities: - ensure a balance between the competences of the Member States and the Union; - ensure consistency with other EU legislation; - ensure the editorial and financial independence of the public media; - strengthen the independence of the future European Media Services Committee; - clarify the relationship between the media and very large platforms (see EUROPE 13258/16).

“Media capture”

At the same time, various European associations for the protection of journalists have called for the European Parliament text to be adopted. They believe that, despite “the need for further strengthening”, it is “currently the version best equipped to roll back the creeping spread of media capture”.

For them, the Polish elections in October illustrate the urgent need for European legislation. Although the opposition won the majority of votes, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) denounced an “undue influence over the use of state resources and the public media” on the part of the PiS government. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)