Brussels berates Italy, Hungary and Slovakia for rule-of-law decline

The European Commission has released the new edition of its Rule of Law Report, showing persistent problems in press freedom.

Transcript

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.