EU Commissioner for Justice: Bulgaria Should Step up Reforms, Media Freedom Is Essential for Democracy

Surely the pace of reforms in Bulgaria is not as fast as we would like. This is what the Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice Věra Jourová said in an interview with Mediapool. She stresses that Bulgaria has built all the necessary institutions to fight corruption, but the Bulgarian citizens and the EC are still waiting to see the results.

 Ms. Jourová, Bulgaria continues to be the country with the least freedom of the media in the EU and ranks 112th in the ranking of Reporters Without Borders. Does this have anything to do with poverty and corruption?

 I saw the Press Freedom Index and took into account its findings on the situation of media freedom in Europe as a whole. We also see in the media pluralism monitoring report that the media across Europe are facing problems. I have said before and will continue to repeat - the media must be able to work freely and independently anywhere in the European Union. This is the core of what we call media freedom. We want to work on this with all EU Member States, including Bulgaria. This is the first time we have done so in the context of the new regular Rule of Law Report. Last year's report already identified some of the problems such as violence against journalists, lack of transparency of ownership or excessive concentration of media ownership. The source of the problems is complex. This is not just about poverty and corruption, but also the deteriorating economic situation of the media, among many other factors. That is why we want to support improving the situation.

What can the Commission do about this?

 Let me be clear: democracy cannot function without free and independent media. We will always protect them and...

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