The EU’s proposed Media Freedom Act violates the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, a Polish MEP has said.
Elżbieta Kruk, a member of the country’s ruling PiS party, made the comments after the European Parliament voted to back the reforms, which include handing approved media outlets additional rights under EU censorship rules.
Speaking to the Parliament, Kruk questioned the motive behind the measures, warning that the reforms do not fall under the remit of the EU and could undermine domestic media sectors in individual Member States.
“The European Media Freedom Act tries to bring in provisions that violate the Treaties,” she told Parliament. “It undermines the right for Member States to regulate their own media markets.”
“The unification of media regulations across the EU may actually lead to the destruction of national systems,” she added.
Kruk also insisted that media freedoms were often better protected at the national level, arguing that the likes of the Polish Constitution already “constitute a real guarantee of the independence of the press in our country”.
The European Union is considering giving certain forms of online censorship protection to media outlets it approves of. https://t.co/91W5RG23a7
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 26, 2023
PiS was far from the only group keen to criticise the Media Freedom Act.
In a statement seen by Brussels Signal, Christine Anderson of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party accused Brussels of orchestrating a power grab, arguing that the new rules would be used to silence critical outlets.
“It is obvious that this is not a media freedom law, but a media gag law,” she said.
“Citizens should decide which media they want to consume. We reject compulsory taxes, horrendous subsidies and EU interference in national media responsibility in the interests of the citizens!”
Others appeared to have the exact opposite criticism, with the Big Tech-linked Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe expressing disappointment that some media platforms will be protected from censorship under the Digital Services Act.
“The media exemption will empower rogue actors, creating new loopholes to spread fake news rather than fixing anything,” the group’s Senior Policy Manager Mathilde Adjutor said.
She went on to hope that the so-called “disinformation loophole” would be closed in future revisions of the bill.
"1984 was not a manual, it was a warning!" Czech MEP Mikuláš Peksa tells Brussels Signal Head of News Justin Stares that the European Commission should not have the right to shut down social media platforms.@vonpecka | @EuropeanPirates | @ThierryBreton pic.twitter.com/XlEOs2KdNE
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) September 26, 2023
