The EU Commission headquarters is seen in Brussels, Belgium, on July 14, 2021. CPJ recently joined a call for the commission to strengthen its Rule of Law report. (Reuters/Yves Herman)
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 61 organizations in a joint statement urging the European Commission to strengthen its annual Rule of Law report.
The Rule of Law report, published in July, which provides a basis for the annual rule of law dialogue among European Union officials and member states, includes summaries of areas of concern among EU members and calls on countries to fight corruption, ensure judiciary independence, protect media freedom and pluralism, and strengthen other institutional checks and balances.
In the joint statement today, CPJ and other groups noted that the report “overlooked some serious media freedom issues, particularly related to the capture and state control over public service media,” and called on the European Commission to revise the report to more thoroughly examine press freedom issues among EU countries.
The statement also said that the report needs to include a better consultation process with journalists and clear recommendations about what action needs to be taken by member states.
The text of the joint statement can be found here.