Media News - Thursday, January 06, 2011

Press freedom ‘sacred’ to EU, says Barroso

Freedom of the press is "sacred" to Europe, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Wednesday ahead of talks this week with the Hungarian authorities. Barroso on Friday meets the Budapest government that took over the rotating European Union presidency on January 1, the same day its fiercely-contested new press legislation passed into law. Earlier, commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said Brussels had received a translation of Hungary's controversial 194-page law and its legal experts were checking whether it complied with all EU legislation. The disputed legislation gives a new regulatory authority, the NMHH, the right to impose fines of up to 720,000 euros for material that is considered offensive. The authority also has the right to inspect documents and force journalists to reveal sources in issues related to national security. The media law has drawn criticism from opposition politicians and journalists in Hungary, as well as the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE), Amnesty International, the European parliament and several European governments, such as Germany and France. (AFP via EU Business)

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