In a meeting with delegates of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Friday 20 March 2015, the EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Mr. Johannes Hahn, has called for more progress made on press freedom in the West Balkans and Turkey. Commissioner Hahn expressed his concerns about media freedom in West Balkans and Turkey and pointed out that it was not satisfactory to see these countries receiving the same critical comments every year. He confirmed that the Commission considers media freedom as a fundamental right and as a key element in the transformation of countries into democratic…

Macedonian government stands accused of tapping the phones of over 20,000 citizens, including more than 100 journalists. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Macedonian affiliates, the Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) and the Association of Journalists of Macedonia(ZNM), expressed grave concerns about the publicly announced allegations of the unauthorised mass surveillance of journalists and citizens. Zoran Zaev, leader of the center-left opposition party (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia – SDSM), has released yesterday many details on the mass wire-tapping of more than 100 Macedonian journalists for more than three years. “This violation of privacy directly affects…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have today demanded in a joint letter to Macedonian Prime Minister, Mr. Nicola Gruevski, the review of the Macedonian journalist Tomislav Kezarovsi’s two year jail sentence. The reporter, sentenced allegedly for revealing the identity of a witness in a murder case, was recently granted release from prison on health grounds until next 18 February, which IFJ and EFJ find insufficient. By a public letter, they called on the Macedonian authorities to reconsider Kezarovski’s innocence and to grant him the permanent release. (Photo credit: Tomislav Georgiev.)

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with their members in Macedonia the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM) and the Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM), have today declared insufficient the temporary release of the investigative journalist Tomislav Kezarovski and called again on the national court to reconsider his innocence. Around 3,000 demonstrators gathered today from midday onwards in Skopje to denounce the two year jail sentence that the Macedonian Court had imposed last week on Kezarovski allegedly for revealing the identity of a witness in a murder case.…

Update (16/01/2015): Tomislav Kezarovski has just been put in jail this Friday evening The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today expressed deep concern about the sentencing of Macedonian journalist Tomislav Kezarovski to two years in prison by the Skopje Court of Appeal. Kezarovksi, an investigative journalist at the daily Nova Makedonija, has been in detention and then under house arrest since 28 May 2013 for an article he wrote in 2008 for Reporter 92 magazine in which he allegedly revealed the identity of a witness in a murder case. The Court of Appeal lowered today the sentence of the Primary…

On 18/11/2014, a conference entitled “Media Integrity Matters – Reclaiming public service values in the Western Balkans media: How should the European Union Respond ?” has been organized in Brussels by MEP Tanja Fajon. The event was a follow-up to the publication of the book “Media integrity matters” in June 2014, comprising the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia. The study aims at addressing the obstacles to a democratic development of media systems in the countries of South East Europe/Western Balkans by pointing out corrupt relations and practices in media policy, media ownership and financing,…

It is essential that international organizations not only have press freedom as key issues, but also pursues effectively the abuses that are taking place and put pressure on the authorities to correct those attacks on press freedom, writes Mogens Blicher Bjerregaard, President of the Danish Union of Journalists and EFJ President. By Mogens Blicher Bjerrregård I’m just back from Macedonia where I had the opportunity to visit a journalist whose life is in ruins because he does not want to disclose his sources. The European Federation of Journalists sent a letter to the Macedonian Ambassador to the European Union. Similar…

Journalists unions from across the former Soviet Union and South East Europe gathered to debate the status of journalism, union organising and violations and safety of journalists rights across the region. The meeting was the third joint IFJ / EFJ meeting in the region to build greater collaboration and support for journalists unions across Europe. Discussions focused on labour rights, new forms of organising and recruitment, union campaigning, legal defense and new digital tools. The meeting started by recalling the many hundreds of journalists that have suffered violence and persecution for their work since the 2013 conference in Kiev and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has called for authorities in Macedonia to drop all charges against the journalist Tomislav Kezarovski – who has now been held under house arrest for over a year. In 2013, Kezarovski was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison by a tribunal in Skopje for writing investigative articles for the magazine Reporter 92. He is currently under house arrest, unemployed and living in very difficult conditions. The EFJ has sent a letter to Andrej Lepavcov, the Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the European Union, calling for Macedonian authorities to bring an end to all…