Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), lead Rapporteur (CULT Committee), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO) opinion Rapporteur (LIBE), hold a press conference on European Media Freedom act. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

plenary session

press conference

freedom of press and media (T)

VERHEYEN, Sabine (EPP, DE)

STRUGARIU, Ramona (Renew, RO)

Press conference by Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), lead Rapporteur (CULT), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO) opinion Rapporteur (LIBE) on European Media Freedom act

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/72366229/1696000106806_I247021Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Thank you very much. And first, I would like to say thank you also for your interest in this important file. I'm very happy that the text has been adopted today with a good, solid majority of 448 votes. Media freedom and pluralism are core values enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. And the European Parliament has reached a milestone for the protection of media diversity in journalists.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, With today's vote, today's vote on the European Media Freedom Act, in our position, we have ensured that media regulators are politically independent on national as well as on European level with the board. This includes also European institutions like the Commission. That was very important for us and the Committee that we keep the same distance from government as also from the Commission for this media authorities.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We created transparency regarding the ownership of media companies and established minimum standards for the free work of journalists and public broadcasting while respecting and guaranteeing consistency with the Amsterdam Protocol, which was very important to keep the whole text legally sound so that not from the beginning. Already countries like Poland and Hungary can go against the text.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, 'We also provide media providers with the opportunity to independently engage with the European level when national regulation makes it impossible for them to fulfil their mission. The position of the Parliament also includes the major online platforms that act as gatekeepers in our digital lives, and these primarily non-European platforms with considerable power in determining which content reached us or can be reached by us.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Strictly regulated European media content should not be subject to arbitrary decisions to a House rules or terms and conditions of such platforms. We have seen many cases where platforms have blocked, have been blocked legal or where the platforms have blocked legal and reputable content without apparent reasons.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, This shows us that we need this safeguard because that's something that's coming up more and more. When persons like Musk or others don't like content, they can block it compared to the House rules because the interpretation is very wide. So it's really important that we put in here a safeguard. This protection does not apply to illegal content, but rather aims to protect quality journalism. Scientific articles and investigative journalism.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, The DSA remains entirely unaffected by this. That must be clear. It's not a loophole for disinformation and illegal content. It's just the protection of serious media in relation to the House rules of platforms. Today, the Parliament has demonstrated its strong commitment to the protection of free media, and with this text we have achieved coherence and clear, interlinked and complementarities between the MFA, the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and other union efforts to promote and support media freedom pluralism as, for example, also the Copyright Directive. Independent Media Service and Independent Media Service as public watchdogs are a crucial pillar of democracy and at the same time a significant part of our economy and the MFA aims to create greater diversity, freedom and editorial independence for European media companies.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Given the serious threats to media freedom in several EU countries, this new law is necessary not just to pay lip service but to take effective measures. And in the report, the proposals of the European Commission have been strengthened to ensure media independence and protect journalists without weakening the unique cultural differences.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, The text we have adopted is legally sound and has a bite the bite it needs, and we ensure that we keep the right balance between the competences of the Member States and the EU. We safeguard the principles. Media services need to be independent and free. And of course the M4 cannot work miracles.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, But we shouldn't forget that the Commission could already do more to protect the rule of law in the Member States. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that media freedom is seriously threatened in several EU member states and we stand firmly by the side of free media and will now defend our positions in the negotiations with the Member States.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sabine VERHEYEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, The negotiations will start immediately after this week and we hope that we can finalise the negotiations until the end of the year, latest until the end of this legislative term in February, so that we reach an agreement before the end of the term and before the new presidencies. After the Belgium start, because I do not think that then we will have a chance to push it through. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, Good afternoon. Thank you, everybody, for being present here. I would like to thank Sabina and the whole team in the European Parliament for being able to adopt what I would call a very strong and determined and clear position of the Parliament on the Media Freedom Act and of the upcoming negotiations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, I think that media freedom is is clearly a fundamental pillar for our democracies. It is at the same time the most fragile one. And whereas, the necessity for free media was, I think, clearly understood by the civil society and by the journalistic organisations which supported this proposal, I am grateful for this interaction and cooperation and I think it is broadly understood by the public.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, It is more difficult for the politicians to understand why media freedom is so important. But at the same time I think that every single politician and this is something that I stated in the plenary today as well, who wakes up in the morning and in each of these member states that we have and looks for correct information and for high quality news and is basing his activities and actions and campaigning and mandate on this quality information should probably be very aware why we need a very strong framework for protecting media freedom, because this is what EMSA does.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, It is not regulating media, but it is creating this strong framework. A few details on Article four because I had exclusive competence and the Liberal committee had exclusive competence on this article. It is also it has been one of the most disputed articles in the whole proposal. What it does is basically reinforcing on the one side the commission text and also bringing the safeguards that we create in line with those already established by the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, We all know that the protection of sources is a vital element of journalistic work, and every journalist would rather choose to lose very precious things and defend its sources, sometimes with the price of their own life. So basically, our proposed text enshrines the absolute principle that journalists should never be obliged to disclose their sources. At the same time, the text establishes that no public authority should ever interfere or try to influence editorial decisions of media service providers.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, I think that basically with the text, there is a very clear legislative guarantee that that codifies the principles this this principle and offers an extra layer of protection to journalistic works. Apart from the protection of sources and editorial independence, we also aim to protect journalists from abusive measures taken against them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, Nobody should ever detain a journalist for conducting an uncomfortable investigation into the dirty business of a state of politicians or a private individual. Public interest must always prevail and it must be protected. And the role of the free media is to report about issues of public interest. This is exactly why the text of Article four to protect journalists from arbitrary detention searches and seizure, or from arbitrary inspections on their premises. And the deployment of such measures is restricted by a strong set of safeguards.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, The EP text also tackles access to encrypted data and deployment of traditional surveillance technologies such as wiretapping, for example. And here additional safeguards apply to the deployment of such measures, and their use is restricted to very serious crimes as defined by EU law, punishable by an established minimum sentence in prison.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, Then they are subject to judicial review, not only ex ante, but also throughout their deployment and ex post, and could only be used when other measures are deemed insufficient or inadequate. Finally, does the issue of intrusive surveillance and spyware. With this text, we aim to restrict to the maximum possible the use of such technologies. And according to the text, I would like to underline this again.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, Such measures could not be deployed when the investigations led by the law enforcement are related to the professional work of journalists. Therefore, the use of spyware is effectively banned in investigations that concern the professional work of media service providers and their employees. Furthermore, additional safeguards in this regard have been carried over from the Pega report in order to ensure maximum protection.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ramona STRUGARIU (Renew, RO), Opinion Rapporteur, I really look forward to the negotiations with the Council. I hope that with the Council, like I said today, we will be able to to have a strong text. In the end, I know it will not be easy, but it is really worth the fight and then the whole process. And like I like I said today in the plenary, and I strongly believe this democracy will never survive in the darkness of unspoken truth. And if it's somebody who speaks the truth, defends the truth and provides the truth to the public, then these are media service providers and independent journalists. Thank you very much.