On Friday 19 January, the permanent ambassadors of the Member States to the EU approved the provisional political agreement reached between the EU Council and the European Parliament on 15 December, following a final round of negotiations lasting more than five hours on the ‘Media Freedom Act’ (see EUROPE 13315/6).
“Today is a historic day for media freedom and pluralism in the EU. This new regulation will protect journalists and their sources and enable citizens to make informed decisions on the basis of plural and independent information”, commented Flemish Media Minister Benjamin Dalle.
In order to reach an agreement on the text, the Member States and the European Parliament had to strike a balance on the thorny issue of the surveillance of journalists. France - and a number of other Member States - had been lobbying for several months for a ban on this, with the exception of situations involving national security, an exception which constituted a red line for the European Parliament.
France’s demands had been taken up, since although the explicit reference to ‘national security’ had indeed been removed from the text, it had been swapped, by a clever legal sleight of hand, for a recital referring to Article 4.2 of the Treaty on European Union, which, a source at EUROPE had indicated, “clearly sets out” the concept of national security.
The provisional agreement will be examined and voted on by MEPs during the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture meeting on 24 January. MEPs should then vote on the text during the plenary session in March. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)