Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-02-16-Speech-3-512-000"
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"en.20110216.17.3-512-000"2
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"Mr President, I am pleased to inform you that, when the plane was touching down this morning in Strasbourg, I got the good news that the Hungarian Prime Minister has agreed to amend the media law so that it complies with all aspects of EU law that we, the European Commission have raised, including the concerns raised regarding the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
I can assure you that the Commission acknowledges and shares the concerns that many of you and parts of civil society have about the general state of the media in Europe. I am ready to go further and take action in the matter of media pluralism within the EU competences, of course respecting subsidiarity.
The Commission not only has a duty, but also a sincere interest, in facilitating the dialogue amongst stakeholders and policymakers at a European level. The changing structure of the media landscape in Europe causes concern for the future. It brings opportunities but also wider risks for media pluralism beyond the ownership use. It is quite clear that we need an approach to measuring media pluralism in a broad sense; one that will bring together legal, economic and social aspects, rather than treating them quite separately, as has often been the case up until now.
Therefore, I intend to establish a multi-stakeholder group and ask them to address the challenges for the media at present and in the future, including the situation of media pluralism in Europe. Since you know that I value your input very much, the European Parliament will be represented in the group of experts, if you will accept that invitation. I will announce details quite soon. The group will be asked to advise me on the next steps to be taken concerning the media landscape and I am fully committed to taking concrete action within all the competences that I have.
They assure me that the amendments will be adopted by the Hungarian Government at its next session. The body language of the representatives of the Hungarian Government gives me the feeling that this is correct and that it will be tabled in the Hungarian Parliament within the coming days.
The four areas where the Hungarian authorities agreed to amend their law are the following.
Number one: balanced coverage. The amendments agreed would limit the balanced reporting requirements to broadcasting, as in other Member States, and would no longer apply those requirements to on-demand audiovisual media services or the written press. Moreover, any restrictions on broadcasters would need to respect the principle of proportionality. Of course the Commission will monitor the way that principle is translated into secondary law.
I mentioned four areas. The second one is the country-of-origin principle. The amendments agreed would mean that foreign broadcasters could no longer be fined for breaching the Hungarian media law’s provisions on protection of minors or incitement to hatred. Instead the Hungarian authorities could suspend transmission of such services on Hungarian territory, which is in line with the AVMS Directive.
What does that mean? It means that broadcasters legally established and authorised in other Member States, and compliant with the laws of those countries, would be free to broadcast to Hungary without running the risk of being subject to fines by Hungarian authorities.
Number three: media registration. The amendments agreed would mean that audiovisual media service providers would have to register only after they begin offering their services, and that is in line with the directive. It means that audiovisual media service providers and publishers would no longer be subject to prior authorisation by the Hungarian authorities.
Number four: offensive content. Additionally, the Hungarian Government agreed to amend another provision of its media law that raised concerns with respect to the freedom of expression. A provision of the media law specified very broadly that media content may not cause offence, even by implication, to individuals, minorities or majorities. The amendments agreed would limit the prohibition to discriminatory treatment. Moreover those provisions would no longer apply to media service providers established in other EU countries.
We will work closely with the Hungarian authorities to make sure that the agreed changes are now adopted into Hungarian law and applied in practice. We will continue to monitor the situation, but that is quite clear. Needless to say, the Commission is also verifying the national rules implementing the AVMS Directive in other Member States and will raise similar concerns where necessary. The Commission does not shy away from using its powers. It does not shy away from defending media freedom and pluralism when it is needed, and the present case hopefully pre-empts and proves that."@en1
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