On December 5, the international press freedom organisation ARTICLE 19 issued the ‘Expression agenda report 2017-2018‘; an analysis on the global status of freedom of expression. The findings are anything but positive. There is a decline in the situation of free press in 24 countries around the world since 2014, and this affects Europe as well. Even though the worst performing countries of the index are non-European countries, the hostility towards the media has become normalised particularly in Eastern Europe, where Poland, Croatia, Romania and Turkey saw a decline in the different areas of the index between 2014 and 2017. The report…

On the December 10, the Human Rights Day, Italian journalists have once again organised a protest against the attacks of some members of the government. They gathered to defend the dignity of Journalists’ work and the values contained in Article 21 of the Italian Constitution (guaranteeing free speech). The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) keeps on supporting its Italian affiliate, Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana (Fnsi), in the fight against the continuous attempts to limit journalists’ work in the country. On the same day, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio (5 Star Movement) convened FNSI and the National Order of Journalists (Cnog)…

The Journalists’ Association of the Netherlands (NVJ) has signed an important agreement to improve the safety of journalists. The Agreement of the Steering Group on Aggression and violence against journalists, was negotiated by the NVJ with he Dutch Minister of justice, the GP-office and the National Police. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) congratulated its affiliate NVJ for achieving this important agreement. The EFJ says, “The agreement is the first of its kind as it signifies the cooperation between the public authorities, journalists and the media with the aim to protect the safety of journalists. ” “Journalists are facing increasing attacks…

On 20th November,  a trade union coalition called Itset, representing self-employed workers, has published a list of goals to improve the situation of self-employed workers ahead of the Finish parliamentary elections in April 2019. Many unions, NGOs and other interest groups are now drafting and publishing their manifestos. Itset, who represents all three Finish trade union confederations including the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF) , recognizes lack of fair compensation and contracts for freelancers, as well as the fact that the current legal definition of employment is too narrow. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate, the UJF, in…

On 27 November, Italian MEP Isabella De Monte (S&D) organised the event “The challenges of European Journalism”, taking as an example the recent problems of Italian journalism, such as politicians’ attempts to undermine public media credibility and the difficult economic situation of Italian journalists and media, to discuss about the more widespread attacks to free press throughout Europe. An issue that has to be addressed right now before the European elections with disinformation on the rise said De Monte. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was represented by its director Renate Schroeder, participating together with Raffaele Lorusso, general secretary of the affiliate Federazione Nazionale della Stampa…

On November 12, the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJ) announced an increase of the recommended fees for freelances by 1.8 percent starting January 2019. The increase will concern also fixed freelance fees. This is to adjust the increased salaries by 1.8 percent accomplished through the recent collective agreement. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) supports its Swedish affiliate in this decision, recognizing that recommendations play a crucial role for many freelancers. Since the 1970s, the SUJ has issued recommended freelance rates per hour, equivalent to the average monthly wage of an employed journalist. This “freelance recommendation” consists partly in a recommended…

On November 14, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) issued the final report on its ad hoc fact-finding mission concerning the situation in Malta and Slovakia, which has uncovered a worrying condition for free press in both countries. The mission took place on 17-20 September 2018, following the murders of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak – killed together with his fiancée. The MEPs exchanged views with journalists, officials, NGOs and representatives of the victims’ families. The mission was recommended by the new monitoring group on rule of law and the…

On 17 April 2018, the European Commission presented the proposal for a Regulation on European production and preservation orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters (COM(2018) 225 final). The European Commission’s proposal aims at providing judicial authorities in European Member States with a tool to request the production or preservation of electronic data stored in a different Member State via production and/or preservation orders needed for investigation and prosecution purposes in crimes identified by the proposal. The proposal would allow the competent authorities in the issuing Member State to directly approach service providers based in an EU Member State to…

UPDATE (15.11.18): the European Parliament voted in favour of the Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions. Find more information here. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today called on Members of the European Parliament to support the draft Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions to protect the rights of precarious workers across Europe. On 15th November 2018, the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive will be voted in the European Parliament.  The vote will determine whether the draft Directive can proceed to the next stage of the legislative process giving the European Parliament the mandate to negotiate on the position agreed…

On November 10 2018, in occasion of the acquittal of Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome who was charged with forgery in relation to the appointment of Renato Marra as head of the Tourism Department, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and the Five Stars Movement MP Alessandro Di Battista attacked again Italian journalists. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Italian affiliate, Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana (FNSI), in organising a protest action  on November 13 to speak out against these systematic attacks against the press in Italy with the hashtag #GiùLeManiDallInformazione (Hands off the information).…

The Signatories in the Audiovisual Sector express their grave concern about the potential threat to the Audiovisual industry posed by Brexit. We call on the negotiators on both sides to ensure that the interests of the Audiovisual industry across the EU and the UK be protected in the current negotiations and in particular to give special consideration to the potentially very severe damage for their business operators and workers if the future framework for the cooperation between the EU and the UK Audiovisual sector are not adapted. More specifically: There are fears that, in the film and sector, important co-production…

On 6 November 2018, the Council of the European Union formally adopted a directive guaranteeing equal VAT rules for digital and printed publications. Member states will now have the possibility to apply reduced, super-reduced or zero VAT rates to e-newspapers, which were previously subjected to different VAT conditions. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes this proposal aligning digital newspapers’ tax system to the ones of  physical publications. The adoption of the directive gives the possibility to member states to end tax discrimination against e-publication, implementing reduced VAT rates in their national legal systems. However, this is only a temporary…

On 18 October 2018, the Helsinki District Court issued a symbolic verdict against online disinformation and hate speech. The Court’s decision makes Finland the first European country to directly fight Internet trolls, taking action against those who harass journalists through the net. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Finnish affiliate, the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF), in welcoming the verdict as an example to be followed by other European countries to fight online defamation of journalists. The case sees as protagonist Jessikka Aro, a Finnish journalist investigating how pro-Russia disinformation is spread in Finland through social media and websites believed to be linked…

The Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today expressed solidarity with Italian journalists affected by the sale of the magazine “Panorama” by the big publishing company Mondadori. Anna del Freo, EFJ Steering Committee member and deputy General Secretary of the Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI), was invited at the occasion of the trade union assembly to assist her colleagues, whose working conditions will seriously be deteriorated. Mondadori’s recent decision to sell Panorama to La Verità will force the 24 journalists working for the magazine to accept the cut of their salary by 45%. This was their only choice – the alternative was…

Access Now, Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) and European Digital Rights (EDRi) just issued a joint report evaluating the work done by the EU institutions to tackle online disinformation. They found out a lack of evidence-based solution to address the problem and therefore  established a series of recommendations to be followed prior and after the adoption of the forthcoming EU Action Plan on the topic. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) supports these organisations in asking the EU and Member States to refrain from undue interference and censorship while addressing the issue of disinformation. “We urge the European Commission…

On 18 October, the Employment Committee of the European Parliament (EMPL) has voted on a draft Directive on Transparent and predictable working conditions. The draft legislation aims to improve the rights and working conditions of workers in non-standard forms of employment including certain freelance workers. It comes as a response to recent resolutions in which Parliament has called on the Commission to review the precedent directive of 1991, lacking of protection for new forms of employment, so that all workers could enjoy a common core set of rights. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the adoption of this draft…