Posted Oct 3, 2022 12:48 PM
The European Commission is raising its tone against Greece, while attacks on media freedom have multiplied in the Hellenic Republic in recent years. At the end of last week, the Brussels executive initiated an infringement procedure concerning a Greek law hampering the free movement of capital in the media sector.
The case dates back to February 2021 when Greece passed a law prohibiting any takeover or control by a holder of a satellite pay-TV and radio license in a company providing radio or television content via the network. terrestrial free or paying (TNT).
Curiously, this was passed shortly after the takeover of the telecom operator Forthnet – renamed Nova -, active in television, fixed telephony and the Internet, by United Media, the main independent media group in the whole of the Balkans. .
Block Nova
“This law is clearly intended to block Nova commercial television. There are only two satellite licenses in Greece: Forthnet and the incumbent telecom operator which does not do TV…”, judges Benoit le Bret, partner at Gide Loyrette Nouel, defender of United Media. Hampered in its activities, Forthnet then filed a complaint with the European Commission demanding the cancellation of the law.
In its formal notice, the first official step in the infringement procedure, Brussels recognizes the violation of European legislation by Greece. “The Commission considers that this introduces an unjustified restriction on the free movement of capital and the freedom of establishment,” she writes. Greece now has two months to submit its observations, failing which the EU could send it a reasoned opinion, i.e. a formal request to comply with EU law.
This case comes at a time when Greece has never been so singled out for its violations of media freedom. “Press freedom suffered a serious setback over the 2021-2022 period,” writes Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a report published on its website. Journalists have regularly been prevented from freely covering migration and health issues”.
Not to mention the assassination, in 2021, of investigative journalist Giorgos Karaivaz, which has never been elucidated. The same year, the Greek Parliament also passed a law on “the offense of spreading false information” increasing prison sentences for journalists and again violating European standards.
In the footsteps of Viktor Orban
Greece now occupies the last place in Europe in the press freedom ranking 2022 (108th worldwide out of 180 countries), behind several dictatorships and in particular Bulgaria, a country which has long posted the worst performance in terms of media freedom… “Greece is following in the footsteps of Vucic and Orban! (names of the President of the Republic of Serbia and the Prime Minister of Hungary)”, believes Benoit Le Bret, summarizing the findings of many European observers.
If Forthnet’s complaint took a long time to be heard, the Commission now seems to be monitoring the situation closely. Evidenced by the official visit, last Thursday, of Vera Jourova, the commissioner in charge of values and transparency, in Athens, to make recommendations to the national authorities in order to globally improve the rule of law. The commissioner notably assured that she had obtained that Athens modify its controversial law on false information. It remains to turn words into deeds.
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