Brussels, 23/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - Reactions approving the report by Dutch Democracy '66 member Johanna Boogerd-Quaak on media pluralism in Europe were as animated as the debates that preceded the plenary vote (yesterday's EUROPE p.10, and 22 April, p.12).
"The credibility of the European institutions has been struck to the heart" by this vote, Francesco Fiori (Forza Italia) said denouncing in a press release those who seek "confrontation by slandering the adversary". Within the same group (EPP-ED), the comments by CDU member Ruth Hieronymi were more poised. "The policy against media concentration in Europe cannot be reduced to Mr Berlusconi (…). The decision taken by the European Parliament today is pure polemics and can only be rejected", she said in a press release. A serious indictment would have had our agreement, Italian Radical Marco Pannella insisted in this press release battle, explaining that he and the other elected members on the Lista Bonino voted against the Boogerd-Quaak report because "those who, today, have accused Berlusconi have for decades created, practised and imposed the essential part of what continues to happen in our country, and which is obviously getting worse".
Mario Segni on the other hand distanced himself from his group (UEN), which voted against the report. He considered the Parliament's stance was "fair". Europe needs legislation on media freedom, mainly with a view to EU enlargement to "democracies that are less well-established than ours", he said in a press release. Recalling that he had been the first MEP to take an interest in the matter (he cited the resolution approved at his initiative on 20 November 2002), he exclaimed: "this is not a battle of the left but a true liberal battle". The Socialist Group, on the other hand, welcomes the vote in a series of press releases. Its president, Enrique Baron, notes that "the decision by the EPP Group not to participate in today's vote demonstrates that Forza Italia is completely isolated". He welcomes the union between PES, Liberals, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL, which "defeated this all-too obvious exercise in trying to cover up a conflict of interest". Anna Terron i Cusi of Spain, responsible for the initial drafting of the report, hoped that the recommendations of her Dutch colleague would "serve as a base for EU legislation". The Italian member of Democratici di sinistra, Pasqualina Napoletano, deplores the fact that "it is sad to see the EPP-ED Group, the largest group in Parliament, has been trained to defend the financial interests of the President of the Italian Council". There was a similar reaction from the President of the Greens/EFA Group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who added: "It is said that a large party like the European People's Party has become the play-thing of national delegations (…). Gert Pöttering is reduced to the role of Berlusconi's accomplice". At the Liberal Group, Johanna Boogerd-Quaak said she hoped the European Commission would present a proposal of directive by the end of the year on media pluralism. With the European Constitution that will incorporate the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and its Article 11, it will have a better legal base than before, she said. President of the Group, Graham Watson was delighted that Parliament had "defied unprecedented blocking tactics by centre-right MEPs". He said that the "European Union often preaches to candidate countries and developing countries about the importance of a free media - it's time we practised what we preach at home". "The situation is particularly serious in Italy, but the British people also know only too well the unhealthy control which a media mogul can exert over a country's politics and media", the British Liberal Democrat recalled. Giuseppe Di Lello (Rifondazione comunista) affirmed in a press release that the battle had begun with a resolution that he had presented with Lucio Manisco for the European United Left. After the vote on 21 April, it is "legitimate to claim that the European Commission is proposing a directive (…) banning, as already set out in the Charter of Nice, any media interference in power", he said.
European Federation of Journalists expresses satisfaction
The European Federation of Journalists welcomed on Friday the vote by the European Parliament which, as its new president, Arne König, states in a press release, "is a major success for all defenders of press freedom and media pluralism". In his view, "it sends a powerful message to the new and enlarged European Union". All the institutions, especially the Commission, he said, are "now obliged to recognise that there is a crisis for media pluralism in Europe". "They cannot turn a blind eye to the problem", he added.