Debate: Rule of Law and media freedom in Greece
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Didier Reynders
Language: FR

En ce qui concerne le système judiciaire, la Grèce a adopté un certain nombre de mesures visant à améliorer son efficacité et sa qualité, mais plusieurs défis subsistent. Nous prenons note d'un certain nombre d'initiatives législatives récentes visant à réduire la durée des procédures. À ce jour, aucune mesure n'a été prise en ce qui concerne la participation du pouvoir judiciaire dans la procédure de nomination des plus hautes fonctions judiciaires, à savoir des juges aux fonctions de président et de vice-président du Conseil d'État, de la Cour suprême et de la Cour des comptes. En ce qui concerne la lutte contre la corruption, l'entrée en vigueur d'une législation sur les déclarations de patrimoine constitue un progrès considérable. Toutefois, le progrès accompli en matière de poursuites et de jugements dans les affaires de corruption a été limité. Quant au processus législatif, le rapport fait référence aux efforts déployés pour améliorer sa qualité. Dans la pratique, toutefois, des défis subsistent dans ce domaine également, notamment en ce qui concerne la consultation des parties prenantes. Et la question de la surveillance au moyen d'écoutes téléphoniques et de logiciels espions a fait l'objet d'enquêtes de la part d'autorités judiciaires et d'autorités indépendantes. Concernant le cadre réglementaire en matière d'enregistrement des organisations de la société civile, en particulier en ce qui concerne les organisations actives dans les domaines de la migration et de l'inclusion sociale, des inquiétudes persistent. La Commission considère que des mesures concrètes sont nécessaires pour évaluer le système actuel et déterminer s'il convient de le modifier, y compris en engageant un dialogue structuré avec la société civile. Let me now focus on media freedom. Greece adopted legislation aiming to enhance transparency of media ownership. The law set up a registry for print media, as well as a registry for electronic press, and reserves eligibility for state advertising to registered companies. Safeguards are in place to ensure the independence of public service media, but the fact that board members of the Radio and Television Corporation are appointed by the Minister responsible for media continues to raise concerns with regard to their effective independence and to potential political influence. The report also referred to the new procedure to hire staff members of the National Council for Radio and Television, the independent audiovisual media regulator, and persistent challenges regarding its understaffing. The report also depicts the situation of threats and attacks against journalists as incidents, including the use of spyware against journalists and abusive lawsuits. The creation in 2022 of a task force for the protection and empowerment of journalists is an important step. Nevertheless, more concrete steps are needed to improve the working environment of journalists, including as regards abusive lawsuits against journalists and their safety. The Commission addressed a recommendation to Greece in this regard. In this respect, the Commission also notes that the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform identified at the end of 2023 two cases of impunity for murder, nine active alerts and two others without reply in Greece. The Commission follows closely developments regarding the rule of law in Greece, and will take them in due account for the 2024 edition of its Rule of Law Report. At the same time, the Commission proposed a series of initiatives to strengthen the protection of journalists and the media in the European Union. These initiatives will help improve the situation in Greece and in the whole European Union. They include a recommendation on the safety of journalists, a package of a directive and a recommendation dealing with abusive litigation against journalists and rights defenders, as well as a regulation on the Media Freedom Act. The Commission welcomes the recent political agreements on the two laws and thanks the European Parliament for its strong support. Regarding the use of spyware, the Commission has always condemned any attempt to illegally access to the data of citizens, including, of course, journalists. We addressed this issue in depth during the December plenary session, following the recommendations of the PEGA Committee. As I underlined at that time, the Commission is preparing a non-legislative initiative clarifying the boundaries between national security and EU law, in particular the data protection and privacy acquis. In addition, as part of the recent Defence of Democracy package, the Commission adopted a recommendation on inclusive and resilient electoral processes, addressing also the targeting of political actors and journalists by surveillance and spyware tools. The recommendation also recalls that national security should be interpreted in compliance with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, to preserve the effective application of Union law. I thank you for your attention, and of course, I am now looking forward to listen to your intervention, remarks and proposals.