The European Union has always been a cradle of democracy and freedom for the rest of the states since its foundation. The moral advantage that EU member states had over other states was their respect for the values and ideals of democracy, justice and peaceful coexistence that lie at the core of the EU. In recent years, unfortunately, this has tended to change as several states backslide (several times and completely) from the standards of the rule of law, conducting in several cases authoritarian policies. Nowadays, the inclusion of European states in the category of fragile democracies is something that does not surprise anyone.
A democracy can be characterized as fragile when it is backsliding from the principles of the rule of law, presents a large degree of economic inequality between social strata and is governed by populist or personalist politics, and external influence from great power politics. Moreover, the fourth control authority – the media – is fully in line with the ruling regime with the absence of pluralism. Several European states of central and southern Europe (especially the Balkans) now show similar characteristics. The ongoing crises and the inability of the EU to establish mechanisms to prevent such phenomena create a serious issue within the EU. At the current moment, the Union must deal with the internal affairs before urging other states to adapt to democratic ideals.
The state that seems to have the biggest democratic slide at the moment is Greece. Greece is one of the states that has faced the biggest EU crisis in the past decade. Both the economic crisis and the subsequent refugee crisis experienced by the country reshaped its political landscape. The right-wing party that has taken over the reins of the country since 2019 has been criticized several times for its authoritarian policies. The last straw, however, was the spying through illegal software of the journalist Mr. Koukaki.
Observers fear this means the end of critical reporting and investigative journalism and will result in more self-censorship by journalists and the media. But even before the confirmation of the surveillance of the journalist, the freedom of the press in the country falters. As reported by Reports without Borders (RSF) “Greeks’ trust in the media has been consistently one of the lowest in Europe.” The overwhelming majority of media in the country is owned by individuals who are also active in highly regulated business sectors. The media owners also have close ties with the country’s political elite, which weakens the journalistic pluralism in the country.
The coronavirus pandemic, which preceded the wiretapping scandal, also acted as a brake on the country’s press and democracy. The government was accused of favouring friendly outlets with taxpayer funds. With the friendly media offering little to no criticism and the rest of the small independent media powerless to react, the government was able to go about its work of governing by implementing policies unfavourable to the lower social classes. Greece currently occupies the lowest position in the RSF ranking regarding press freedom, surpassing Bulgaria, in position 108. According to Politico, the country has become Europe’s worst place for press freedom.
The freedom of the press in the EU is not only at risk in fragile democracies, but similar threats are also presented in states that are not in this category. One of the states where journalism is at risk is France. The French government in recent years and especially during the period of the pandemic and the large demonstrations tried to put free journalism under partial control. By enacting a law regarding global security, they tried to limit the recording of police forces by reporters and photojournalists. Naturally, the reaction against it was massive and came from both inside and outside of the country. The Constitutional Council struck down, in 2021, an article of the so-called global security law that could have prevented journalists from covering police operations.
Although the situation in France is not comparable to Greece or Poland, the mere attempt to control “the news”, by not recording them, should alarm the EU. Mechanisms that will not allow states to slip away from the rule of law and will protect the freedom of the press within each country of the union, must be activated. The EU has a duty to the people of the press as well as common citizens to make sure that the pluralism and freedom of the press will be respected in each of its member countries.
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
