Press seminar in the European Parliament on Media Freedom on " The threats for journalists in Europe; a dialogue with journalists ", MEPs Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI) and Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL) are asking questions to Veronika MUNK, Hungarian journalist; Nikolay STAYKOV, Bulgarian Journalist; Federica ANGELI, Italian Journalist, all experiencing constraints in their exercise of media freedom. Christophe DELOIRE, Secretary General Reporters without Borders also assessed the 2021 ranking of media freedom. Statements by Jesús CARMONA, European Parliament Director for Media, Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI), Veronika MUNK , Co- editor-in-chief telex.hu, former deputy editor-in-chief index.hu , Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Nikolay STAYKOV , Bulgarian Journalist, and Federica ANGELI, Italian Journalist.

Brussels

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

freedom of press and media (T)

HAUTALA, Heidi (Greens/EFA, FI)

seminar

journalist

World Press Freedom Day: extracts from the Media Freedom Seminar on 'The threats for journalists in Europe; a dialogue with journalists'

Title: World Press Freedom Day: extracts from the Media Freedom Seminar on &apos;The threats for journalists in Europe; a dialogue with journalists&apos;

SOUNDBITE (English), Jes&#250;s CARMONA, European Parliament Director for Media, Upon the last report of the Council of Europe in the last six years, they recorded 31 cases of journalists killed on assignment. Some recent examples are the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Jan Kuciak in Slovakia and more recently, Giorgos Karaivaz in Greece.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christophe DELOIRE, Secretary General Reporters without Borders , Our analysis this year is that journalism is totally blocked or seriously impeded in 73 percent of the countries evaluated all over the world. Europe remains the most favourable continent for press freedom, and it's important to say this.

SOUNDBITE (English), Christophe DELOIRE, Secretary General Reporters without Borders,The mechanisms the European Union established to protect fundamental freedoms have yet to to loosen Victor Orban's grip on Hungary's media. Same in Poland, same in Slovenia. All possible mechanisms have to be triggered.

SOUNDBITE (English), Heidi HAUTALA (Greens/EFA, FI), The mechanisms the European Union established to protect fundamental freedoms have yet to to loosen Victor Orban's grip on Hungary's media. Same in Poland, same in Slovenia. All possible mechanisms have to be triggered.

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika MUNK , Co- editor-in-chief telex.hu, former deputy editor-in-chief index.hu , In Hungary, journalists are not imprisoned or being murdered, but it is extremely difficult to obtain information. The Hungarian state and the government try to make our work difficult, sometimes impossible, in various ways. For example, they do not answer our questions. Critical journalists are often not allowed into press events.

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika MUNK , Co- editor-in-chief telex.hu, former deputy editor-in-chief index.hu, Our operation is is based almost completely on crowd funding. And so that that's an important subject of our independence, that that we do not have any oligarchs behind us. We don't need to deal. I mean, we don't need to differentiate our content because of our owners.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sophia IN &apos;T VELD (Renew, NL), Do you think, indeed, that if we take action, if we take the Commission to court and force the Commission to apply this budget conditionality to countries like Hungary, Poland, but also others, is that going to give support to, let's say, to to to preserving media freedom and media pluralism?

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika MUNK , Co- editor-in-chief telex.hu, former deputy editor-in-chief index.hu, I think I agree that everything is about the money. So this is the right direction to to find a way to solve this problem. But since in Hungary, everything is legal, this is a "democracy" where everything seems to be legal. I mean, everything is legal and everything seems to be alright on the language of the law. So as I explained our difficulties during our everyday work as as critical journalists, I'm not sure that that the money cutting will change that. But I really hope that it can turn the things in a better direction.

SOUNDBITE (English), Nikolay STAYKOV , Bulgarian Journalist, In the reports on media freedom, including the Reporters Without Borders and everything else, Bulgaria is going down with much harsher examples like physical threats and the physical security, beatings and arrests of journalists,

SOUNDBITE (English), Federica ANGELI, Italian Journalist , I have lived under escort, under protection from eight years. So far it is 24/7. It happened because I reported the Roman mafia when nobody else called it like this. I started an investigative reporter for the newspaper I work for and I did not imagine it could end up like this. I still feel afraid because in my condition, the fear never goes away. But I'm sure I made the right choice. Living under escort and under protection is complicated because I live with two armed people next to me every day. Every day.