The European Commission has released the new edition of its Rule of Law Report, showing persistent problems in press freedom.
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00:00Italy, Slovakia and Hungary have all been strongly criticized by the European Commission
00:06in its annual rule of law report, which raises concerns over media freedom, the independence
00:11of judiciaries and corruption.
00:13The Commission noted that Italy has made no progress on introducing safeguards over the
00:18use of defamation and on protecting journalists' anonymity in specific circumstances.
00:24Last year, journalist Robert Saviano was fined 1,000 euros after he insulted Prime Minister
00:29Giorgio Meloni's attitude towards migrants on TV.
00:35We express concerns related to the independence and funding of public service media and we
00:40ask authorities to address the situation.
00:43We have been expressing the need for safeguards for years now, but with new incidents reported
00:51by stakeholders and budget cuts, this is becoming very urgent.
00:56Hungary, the most prolific abuser of the EU's democratic values, was criticized for making
01:02no progress in improving the rule of law, whether by fighting high-level corruption
01:07or by ensuring the media is independent.
01:10The country is already under an Article 7 procedure from the Treaty of the European
01:14Union, which can lead to the suspension of its right to vote on EU decisions.
01:21We try to be fair in the way to analyze the situation, but I will say Hungary is a real
01:28systemic issue for the Commission about the rule of law.
01:32The report also raises concerns about Slovakia and Greece, where it warns that rulings by
01:37the European Court of Human Rights are increasingly not being implemented.
01:42The independence of the media is diminishing in many member states, and according to media
01:46NGOs, it's time for the EU Commission to act.
01:50We are supporters of the procedure of infraction against the countries that do not respect
01:55the freedom of the press.
01:56It's time for Europe to punish those who defame the freedom of the press, and so we hope
02:01that on the basis of the new European Regulation on the Freedom of the Media, which will come
02:06into force between November 2024 and August 2025, on the basis of this Regulation it will
02:11be possible to initiate infraction proceedings against Italy, against Slovakia, against Greece
02:16eventually, and we will be there to help the Commission document these infraction proceedings.
02:25But the report is not all bad.
02:27It says that on the whole, member states are much better prepared to detect and prevent
02:32democratic backsliding.
02:34And for those that have slid backwards, it offers tailored recommendations on what to
02:38do to fix it.