Newspaper publishers across Europe speak out against growing calls for EU press regulation

Newspaper publishers and national newspaper associations from around Europe spoke out clearly today against the increasing calls for press regulation and monitoring at European level.

The General Assembly of European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA), meeting in Belgrade, adopted a Resolution calling on the EU and national governments to recognise press self-regulation as the main guarantee of freedom of expression and press freedom. This Resolution comes at a time of increasing pressure for new legislation and monitoring of media pluralism at EU level. A High Level Group, appointed by the European Commission, recently recommended more EU competence in this area. Meanwhile an own-initiative report by MEP Renate Weber, ‘EU Charter – Standard settings for media freedom across the EU,’ was adopted in the European Parliament yesterday. This Report calls, among other things, for the EU to implement media monitoring. ENPA President, Ivar Rusdal, said: “The very idea that EU legislators should - or could - define ethical or other standards for a sector whose purpose is to hold the legislators themselves to account, is totally counterproductive. “Newspapers should be allowed to decide voluntarily about their editorial content and business structures and be limited solely by national legal frameworks. An independent press should never be subject to EU monitoring,” he added.

For further information contact:

Francine Cunningham, Executive Director
email: francine.cunningham@enpa.be or tel: +32 478 261 995