EC Rule of Law Report Flags up Several Balkan States

Romania's press is in the highest risk category regarding freedom of expression, according to the newest report on the Rule of Law in the EU released on Wednesday by the European Commission.

The Media Pluralism Monitor ranks EU member states into five risk levels: Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovenia are considered highest-risk countries.

The report is an overview of trends in the EU as a whole with 27 country chapters looking at developments in every member state since July 2021, including the context of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

The Commission says transparency of media ownership in Romania rermains incomplete, and there is not enough transparency concerning audiovisual media and elections.

"There is not enough transparency regarding the dissemination of content paid for by political parties outside election campaigns, and journalists' access to information remains deficient," says the report.

The report also signalled two active alerts concerning the intimidation of Romanian journalists, in the cases of Emilia Sercan and Alin Cristea.

Regarding Bulgaria, the report noted a lack of a clear regulatory framework to ensure transparency in the allocation of state advertising, despite some measures taken to improve transparency.

"The professional environment of journalists has slightly improved since the last year, but issues such as access to public information, working conditions and strategic lawsuits remain," says the report.

The situation remains very poor regarding media independence in Hungary.

The EC recommends Hungarian lawmakers to mechanisms to enhance the functional independence of the media regulatory authority, taking into account European standards on the...