Ursula von der Leyen has vowed to make protections for journalists one of the Commission’s foremost priorities.
“We need to stop those who threaten media freedom”, she declared, citing the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Jan Kuciak in Slovakia, and Peter de Vries in the Netherlands as examples.
The European Commission president used her State of the Union speech to the European Parliament on September 15 to note that the independence of media companies is essential and the EC is putting forward a “recommendation” aimed at giving journalists better protection.
She also promised that the EU would have a Media Freedom Act within the next year.
Analysis from AEJ media freedom representative
