AgoraEU: EFJ welcomes Council of Ministers’ position backing news and journalism sectors
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the Council of the European Union’s position on the new AgoraEU programme, adopted on 12 May by EU Culture Ministers, as an important step towards recognising journalism, media freedom, and democratic participation as core pillars of Europe’s democratic resilience. The EFJ calls for this political momentum to be translated into the allocation of substantial financial resources to public-interest media.
The proposed AgoraEU programme, which forms part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (2028-2034), would bring together EU support for culture, media, and civil society under a single framework and includes, for the first time, a dedicated MEDIA+ strand explicitly supporting journalism and news media.
The EFJ welcomes the Council’s recognition that free and independent journalism is essential to democratic resilience and media pluralism across Europe. The text strengthens the programme’s focus on public-interest media, specifically on regional and local media. These players are recognised as having a vital role in safeguarding democratic debate, in particular in news deserts, as identified by an EFJ-led study conducted by CMPF in 2024.
The text also mentions support for increasing the competitiveness and sustainable innovation of the cultural and creative sectors, in particular the media and audiovisual industries. This is in line with the EFJ position that digital tools, namely Artificial Intelligence, must respect journalism ethical standards. The text is clear that EU funding should ensure media independence and sustainability.
However, the EFJ stresses that the negotiations must preserve the ambition of the European Commission’s original proposal and avoid narrowing support only to a limited number of actors or sectors.
“Independent journalism is democratic infrastructure,” said EFJ President Maja Sever. “At a time when Europe faces increasing disinformation, political interference, media capture, and economic pressure from dominant digital platforms, weakening support for journalism would be a strategic mistake.”
The creation of a dedicated EU framework for journalism comes at a moment of acute fragility for the sector. Journalists across Europe are face deteriorating working conditions, attacks on media freedom, and shrinking advertising revenues. As autocratic and authoritarian actors invest heavily in information influence operations, Europe must strengthen its support for public-interest journalism, ensuring independent media can withstand the financial strain resulting from cuts to international support programmes.
The European Parliament is set to finalise its position this autumn, ahead of inter-institutional talks aimed at securing a final agreement by 2027.
This Project has been supported by Civitates, a collaborative initiative of the Network of European Foundations (NEF)
