D66

vrijdag 9 oktober 2009

Sophie in 't Veld over vrijheid van informatie in Italië

"Als we onze gemeenschap van waarden serieus nemen als Europese Unie, moet de Europese Commissie optreden tegen inbreuken op de persvrijheid of vrijheid van meningsuiting. Niet alleen in kandidaat-lidstaten maar òòk in de huidige lidstaten" aldus Sophie in 't Veld.

De D66ster reageerde hiermee op de uitspraak van Commissaris Reding tijdens het plenaire debat op 8 oktober 2009 in het Europees Parlement over vrijheid van informatie in Italië.

De Commissaris had gezegd dat de lidstaten zelf in eerste instantie verantwoordelijk waren voor democratie en de grondrechten en dat de EU daar geen rol in had.

In 't Veld haalde artikel 6 van het EU Verdrag en het juridisch instrument in artikel 7 aan, die volgens haar het tegendeel bewezen.

Hieronder de volledige tekst van haar bijdrage aan het debat:

"Madam President, I have to confess I was rather shocked by the statement of Commissioner Reding because, indeed, the Member States are primarily responsible for ensuring respect for democracy and fundamental rights. But you are wrong if you say that the EU has no role to play here.

First of all, there is Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union, which reads: The Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are common to the Member States. And to prove that that was not just a hollow statement, the European Union furnished itself with Article 7 the legal instrument to enforce Article 6.

Secondly, Mrs Reding, when we are negotiating with candidate states, we insist that they apply the highest standards of press freedom, otherwise they cannot join the European Union. This demand has been laid down in the Copenhagen criteria so why do we apply different standards to candidate states from those applied to current Member States, Commissioner Reding? There are other countries where there are violations of press freedom or freedom of speech, such as the Czech Republic, which has just passed a law restricting the freedom of the press, or Ireland, which has passed a draconian blasphemy law. Commissioner Reding, I conclude by saying if we are serious about being a Community of values, then the European Commission needs to act."