Speech of EU Ambassador Silvio Gonzato at OSCE Media Development Forum

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Speech of EU Ambassador Silvio Gonzato at OSCE Media Development Forum

23.10.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to Albania

Congratulations to OSCE for organising this important forum for the 10^th time. This has become an important yearly rendezvous to take stock of developments in the Albanian media landscape, and we are glad to contribute to it from the EU's perspective.

EU-Albania relations have just reached a new level - last week in Luxembourg, we opened the EU accession negotiations on the "fundamentals", meaning all of the policy areas that we consider fundamental for EU membership, including the judiciary, fundamental rights (including freedom of expression and media freedom), home affairs, democratic functioning of institutions, public administration reform.

This is a pivotal moment for Albania's EU path. Following a successful screening process, we are now entering the substantial part of the accession talks. Albania will now be expected to deliver on key reform commitments, including on media freedom and freedom of expression, which are a key pillar for any democracy and therefore at the core of the political conditions that candidate countries need to meet before joining the EU.

The EU accession process provides Albania with an opportunity to enhance media freedom and pluralism in the country, and address shortcomings in this area. This will make Albania a stronger and more resilient democracy, because independent media are crucial in promoting active and participatory citizenship, shaping a well informed public opinion and holding those in power to account.

This applies also for the EU itself. This is why we are reinforcing media freedom safeguards and rules, especially with the new European Media Freedom Act, adopted earlier this year. Also in the EU, we have seen over the past years various forms of pressure on the media. We have thus established clear EU rules, notably to effectively protect editorial independence; to prevent that journalists are spied on because of their job; to reduce the risk that public media are turned into propaganda channels or used for manipulative purposes; to ensure that state advertising is allocated to media in a transparent and non-discriminatory way; etc.

This new EU acquis complements the important European standards developed over the years in the Council of Europe framework.

As part of the EU accession negotiations, Albanian authorities committed to a range of important actions in this area. In its roadmap on rule of law, the Albanian government committed to adapt the legal framework in order to:

- strengthen the efficiency and autonomy of its regulator;

- address media market concentration;

- strengthen transparency of media financing and ownership;

- strengthen the independence of the public broadcaster;

- ensure that criminal and civil aspects of defamation are fully aligned with EU standards.

Albania also committed to measures to address safety of journalists issues, as well as issues of journalists' labour rights.

The EU is there to support Albania in these efforts.

Clearly media reforms are always very sensitive and need to be prepared in particular through a wide and meaningful consultation of the relevant stakeholders, including civil society.

This is why the EU supports the idea of a structured dialogue involving the state authorities and all relevant actors of the media sector.

I am glad that Professor Mark Marku, a longstanding and respected member of Albania's media community [who is also with us today], has declared his willingness to facilitate such a structured dialogue, with the support of the University of Tirana's Department of Journalism.

In collaboration with the Council of Europe, the EU has decided to work with Professor Mark Marku and the Department of Journalism in their facilitation role. Concretely, besides supporting the initiative politically, we will provide experts on European standards as well as the logistical means to this dialogue effort.

In our view, this dialogue should have as a goal not only to build trust among all actors, but it should eventually come up with concrete proposals for the government and the Parliament on how Albania can meet its EU-related commitments in the field of media freedom and freedom of expression.

We are well aware that this will be a challenging exercise. Many of the issues are stake are complex and will require thorough discussions, and eventually, for some of the issues, a political decision by lawmakers. But we believe that this is well worth the effort and in any case necessary if Albania is to make progress on meeting EU requirements.

On the one hand, we expect the government and other state authorities to be fully engaged in this dialogue, and support it both politically and at the technical level. It is first and foremost the responsibility of the state institutions to create an enabling environment for media freedom, by taking decisions to improve the legal and regulatory framework.

On the other hand, I invite all members of the wider media community of Albania to engage in this dialogue and participate constructively in a spirit of cooperation. I sincerely hope that all will recognise the opportunity that the EU accession talks represent in order to make bold steps towards reinforced media freedom and therefore a stronger Albania.

Needless to say, we also count on the OSCE to contribute actively to this dialogue, based on its mandate and expertise. This is something I have already started discussing with Ambassador Tarran.

Thank you.