Head of European Parliamentarians’ Delegation concerned about media situation in Moldova

A country where the mass media does not function as a true 4-th power cannot be considered democratic 100%, the chairwoman of the Bureau of the European Parliament Delegation of the EU-RM Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (CCP), Marianne Mikko, said, on Monday, June27, at the meeting with representatives of Media NGOs. The executive director of the Independent Press Association, Petru Macovei, said that the European Parliament got informed as result of the meeting with mass media about the situation of press in RM and developments on ensuring a free mass media in RM according to the engagements assumed by the governance, showing in this context its concern related to this situation. According to Macovei, the participants at the meeting supported the idea that „good and beautiful” statements of the authorities are not based on concrete actions. Especially, it was underlined that the press freedom process is rather difficult and deviations from the European standards and that the existent legislation does not fully ensure the freedom of press. The European parliamentarian was interested in civil society’s participation in debates on adjusting the draft Audiovisual Code to European requirements. The representatives of the Independent Journalism Center, Associations “Juristii pentru drepturile omului” (Jurists for Human Rights), Journalistic Investigation Center and the Committee for defending Human and Professional Dignity (CADUP) also attended the meeting with the head of the delegation. On the visit’s agenda there are also included, besides issues regarding the freedom of mass media, items regarding the evolutions in the regulation process of Transnistrian conflict, fighting trafficking in humans, economic ways used by Russia as political weapon to put pressure on RM government etc.