Debate: Strengthening democracy, media freedom and pluralism in the EU
Date: WEDNESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2021
Speaker: Věra Jourová
Language: EN

Four years have passed since the tragic assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and already, as we heard from Mr Wölken, at the time of her death, Daphne had a shocking number of 47 SLAPP cases pending, and many are still, even now, fought by her family. Abusive litigation against those whose job it is to inform our citizens on issues of public interest seems to be gaining ground in the European Union. There is growing evidence that, in particular, journalists and rights defenders are targets of this and our Rule of Law Report of 2021 includes details on that.  Together with increasing threats to their physical and online safety, legal threats and abusive litigation add to an environment where hostile activity against journalists is growing and can have a serious impact on their willingness and ability to continue their work. Their work, as well as that of rights defenders, is fundamental for the health of our democracies and for the rule of law. Our democracies depend on the active engagement of journalists and civil society speaking up when the public interest is at stake.  Together, we are making progress towards the EU initiative announced by the Commission to protect journalists and rights defenders against abusive lawsuits. Allow me to expand on the Commission’s plans in this regard.  After mapping and assessing the situation in the Member States, we believe that the most efficient way to fight against SLAPP and prevent it from growing roots in the EU would be a solid and balanced combination of legislative and non-legislative measures. Parliament’s own-initiative report also calls for such a combination in order to address as many angles as possible of this complex phenomenon.  The legislative action that we aim to propose would be targeted legislation that will lay out procedural safeguards against SLAPP in cross-border civil proceedings. The proposal will need to ensure a careful balance of fundamental rights, freedom of speech and freedom of expression on the one hand, and access to justice for all, on the other hand. The legislative action would be complemented by non-legislative measures covering aspects such as raising awareness about SLAPP, training for judges and potential targets, support and monitoring of SLAPP cases. We are also considering recommendations to the Member States to adopt legislation in the same direction as the legislation we planned for cross-border cases. Our aim is to ensure the most efficient combination of measures we can envisage, while respecting subsidiarity and proportionality. I consider that such a package would best serve the purpose.  The preparatory work is well under way, including the launch of a public consultation, which is ongoing. I also had a discussion with the Justice Ministers on 7 October, and we are pursuing both technical interactions and bilateral talks to explain our initiative. As a next step, we will organise a stakeholders’ meeting on 25 November, at which the two rapporteurs have kindly agreed to present the main findings of the European Parliament report, for which I would like to thank you again, and I look forward to our discussion.  Finally, let me stress that the anti-SLAPP initiative will be reinforced by other actions to ensure a proper working environment for journalists and safeguarding media freedom and pluralism. This is in particular through the recently adopted recommendation on the safety of journalists and the upcoming action on a new European Media Freedom Act.  We need to act with determination and by tackling several angles so as to safeguard the democratic space, and I know I can count on your continued support in this regard.