“The freedom of speech is not guaranteed only by approving laws and creating institutions, but it is a fundamental value that should be revived in any society. Without this, no democracy can function.”
“This is what the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Mr. Stefan Fule, said during an informal meeting with selected journalists from Balkan.
On the press release that also noted the organizing of a high level international conference, especially for the regional problems of the media, there were no specific details on the talks or about the exchanged information in more than two hours. But there was this phrase of the commissioner, which was mentioned again.
The repeating of this phrase emphasized the need of guaranteeing media freedom in the Balkan Countries and that the European Commission is aware of this problem.
The press release emphasized that “freedom of speech is a fundamental pillar for the wellbeing and accountability in the democratic societies, which also should have professional and responsible media. EU expects all candidate and potentially candidate countries to implement this key democratic principle.”
The attention given to this principle has encouraged the organizing of a conference that will be held on May 6th.
400 participants, with many threatened and persecuted journalists amongst them, which have been attacked for their ideas, will exchange the best practices of journalism and will speak about the challenges that face the efforts for improving media freedom in the region.
The conference is named “Speak!”
Prepared by: Arta Tozaj
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