At their plenary session on Wednesday 13 March, MEPs validated the provisional political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on 15 December on the Media Freedom Act (see EUROPE 13336/42).
The agreement was supported by a large majority of the Chamber, with the exception of the conservatives in the ECR Group and the far right, who voted against the text, when they did not abstain.
Although Parliament’s rapporteur for the dossier, Sabine Verheyen (EPP, Belgian), was smiling broadly after the vote, she did concede a touch of disappointment over certain parts of the text, in particular the thorny issue of surveillance of journalists and national security, which is important for several Member States.
This aspect occupied the co-legislators for several hours during the last round of interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogue’). A legal sleight of hand had made it possible to strike a balance while, in fine, respecting the wishes of Member States who wanted less stringent rules (see EUROPE 13315/6).
The agreement had already been approved by the EU27 ambassadors to the EU on 19 January (see EUROPE 13332/16).
See the text adopted: https://aeur.eu/f/bb3 (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)