Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-07-Speech-2-537"
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"en.20100907.33.2-537"2
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"According to the classification of the Freedom House organisation, certain Member States such as Italy, Bulgaria and Romania are, from the perspective of press freedom, only partially free.
It has to be said that the Union as a whole has so far done little in this area. Less than a year ago, for example, the European Parliament rejected a resolution on inadequate press freedom in Italy, designating it a national matter. However, how can freedom of expression be a national matter when, according to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, everyone has a right to freedom of expression and the freedom and plurality of the media must be respected.
The Charter is a legally-binding component of the Treaty of Lisbon, and I therefore firmly believe that it is desirable for the Union to act against national interference in freedom of expression and press freedom, whether in the form of attempts to restrict freedom under the pretext of the fight against terrorism, or protecting journalists and the anonymity of sources. A certain level of legislative harmonisation will be essential in this area if we want the Union to promote freedom of expression and press freedom effectively.
The situation is alarming at the moment in Romania, where the security cabinet led by the President of Romania has adopted a political programme document expressing a national strategy in which the media is defined as one of the possible threats to the security of the country. It is important to emphasise that the situation in Romania is in complete conflict with the treaty, with the Copenhagen criteria, and with the Convention on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms.
It is unacceptable in the present day for the executive power of the state to interfere in such a way with freedom of expression and press freedom. We must unequivocally reject this approach of Romania, and call on Romanian Government representatives to amend the national legislation and harmonise it with the fundamental and principle legal documents on which the Union is based.
Finally, I would like to mention one example as an inspiration. Only recently, Iceland passed a very progressive law on the protection of news sources and on support for investigative journalists. I see no reason why the European Union should postpone taking similar initiatives for itself."@en1
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