EurActiv: 40 MEPs call for EU leaders to protect the news media sector

21.4.2020

An open letter to EU leaders from more than 40 MEPs calls for immediate actions to support Europe’s news media sector as it faces up to the sudden loss of advertising revenue caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Read the full open letter from here > 

 

Dear President von der Leyen, Dear President Sassoli, Dear President Michel, Dear Vice-president Jourova, Dear Commissioner Breton, Dear Commissioner Gabriel,

Free, independent and sufficiently funded media are instrumental for a functioning democracy and for ensuring that citizens are well informed throughout this crisis. Authoritative and reliable news sources and quality journalism is an antidote to disinformation. People are currently relying on trustworthy news media more than ever, as reflected by growing readership and audience numbers.

Media pluralism and diversity were already decreasing before the COVID-19 outbreak. Many media outlets are still deeply scarred by the previous global financial crisis and have been too slow to recover. Furthermore, advertising is now primarily concentrating online, with US-based platforms taking the lion’s share of the pie.

Unless we act immediately, the current COVID-19 fallout will lead to failures of entire news organisations, which, in turn, may result in disastrous consequences for entire societies. We are already witnessing wage cuts, layoffs of staff and we are receiving signals from the media sector about possible bankruptcies within months if not weeks.

It is the responsibility of the European Union and the member states to address the situation without hesitation. We propose these immediate actions:

• The Commission should launch an emergency fund for media and journalism — a NEWS grant programme in order to directly support news media and quality journalism. Special attention in all of the initiatives should be paid to local and regional media as well as for news media operating in small markets;

 

• To fund the above programme, the Commission should explore the viability of redirecting from the ongoing programmes some of the unused funding due to COVID-19 outbreak;

 

• The Commission should also consider other tailored support mechanisms such as providing young people with vouchers for subscriptions to news media, which would not only support the news media but also strengthen media literacy at the same time;

 

• The Commission and the European Parliament should redirect communication budgets to national news media instead of global online platforms;

 

• The European Parliament should explore possibilities for directing more support towards news media using pilot projects;

 

• We encourage governments of the member states to provide direct and indirect support to media.

 

Yours Sincerely,

Dace Melbārde (ECR); Ramona Strugariu (Renew Europe); Irena Joveva (Renew Europe); Michaela Šojdrová (EPP); Niklas Nienaß (Greens/EFA); Victor Negrescu (S&D); Urmas Paet (Renew Europe); Roberts Zīle (ECR); Sandra Kalniete (EPP); Juozas Olekas (S&D); Inese Vaidere (EPP); Lídia Pereira (EPP); Andris Ameriks (S&D); Andrus Ansip (Renew Europe); Radan Kanev (EPP); Ivars Ijabs (Renew Europe); Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA); Petra Kammerevert (S&D); Andrey Slabakov (ECR); Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL); José Gusmão (GUE/NGL); David Casa (EPP); Monica Semedo (Renew Europe); Vlad-Marius Botoș (Renew Europe); Magdalena Adamowicz (EPP); Morten Løkkegaard (Renew Europe); Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Greens/EFA); Tanja Fajon (S&D); Isabel Santos (S&D); Elena Yoncheva (S&D); Grace O’Sullivan (Greens/EFA); Laurence Farreng (Renew Europe); Łukasz Kohut (S&D); Klemen Grošelj (Renew Europe); Petri Sarvamaa (EPP); Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA); Ioan-Rareş Bogdan (EPP); Maria de Graça Carvalho (EPP); Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA); Anna Júlia Donáth (Renew Europe); Javier Nart (Renew Europe); Antonio López-Istúriz White (EPP)

EurActiv: ”Finnish MEP: ‘Political fight begins’ over Europe’s old-growth forests”

17.4.2020

Sarvamaa spoke to EURACTIV ahead of the publication of the European Commission’s biodiversity strategy for 2030 where forestry is expected to play a key role.

Read the whole article on forest conservation, commercial use of forests and global deforestation from here >

 

”There is no one size-fits-all solution [for commercial use of forests]. For example in my member state – Finland – there is no commercial exploitation of forests in protected areas. They are protected, period. Now, of course I’m all for protecting primary forests. Regarding old-growth forests we need to have definitions at EU level in place first. For example, what percentage of forests in Europe is “old growth”? That depends on the definition.”

”Bioenergy is part of the bio-economy, which is too often overlooked. It is a complex issue that has many aspects to it. Whether you buy your biomass from China or Sweden, makes a dramatic difference. We might be able to replace parts of oil imports with forest-based biofuels. At least 80% of global deforestation is caused by massive plantations like soy, coffee, and cacao in South America, Indonesia, and tropical countries. So yes, I think Europe should impose stricter criteria for imports of agricultural products coming from those countries.”

”From what I hear, the Commission’s environment DG wants to change the definition for sustainable forest management as part of the upcoming biodiversity strategy for 2030. I really hope that if DG environment will look at all three aspects of the equation: 1) environment and biodiversity, 2) the economy, and 3) social aspects. If we start to re-define sustainable forest management from one aspect only, we will definitely end up losing on all fronts. And from what I hear, this is unfortunately what DG environment has decided to do.”

 

Euranet Plus Politics Panel #1: EU’s economic response to crisis – is it sufficient?

10.4.2020