EC progress report for the media, Zhupa: The Government and the Parliament have not done their duties, the situation is critical

Democratic deputy Ina Zhupa reacted after the European Commission's progress report on Albania and the negative assessment of the situation with freedom of expression and media.

In a reaction on Facebook, Zhupa writes that our country must increase media transparency and ensure zero tolerance for intimidation and persecution of journalists.

Also, Zhupa pointed out the proposals he made for the protection of journalists from violence, which were rejected by the majority.

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The situation of freedom of expression and freedom of the media is the most critical and hit in Progress Report of the European Union.

The Government and the Parliament have not done their duties and the climate and the situation has worsened. Our legal proposals that go in the direction of implementing the recommendations have been voted down.

The Commission's recommendations from last year were not implemented and remain in effect.

Albania should in particular:

to adopt changes in the legal framework to: 1 increase the transparency of media ownership, 2- fully decriminalize defamation and adapt the civil aspects of defamation to European standards, based on a structured and inclusive dialogue with media actors;

ensure zero tolerance for intimidation and effective judicial prosecution of cases of attacks on journalists; ensure increased capacities of law enforcement bodies to handle cases of violence,

to improve working conditions for Albanian journalists, in particular by strengthening the protection of the labor and social rights of journalists and ensuring that the labor code is applied consistently.

The report raises the concern that: "Defamation is still a crime punishable by special high criminal fines. Civil law provisions on the publication of false or inaccurate information should be adapted to European standards. The Penal Code does not provide special protection for journalists from violence, attacks or threats during the exercise of their profession"

Regarding the improvement of this indicator in the report, I proposed legal changes, but they were voted against by the majority and were not approved. This clearly shows that they have no will to improve the situation.

The report raises concerns that are also raised by us as "The independence of the Audio-Visual Regulatory Authority (AMA) is not guaranteed due to the risk of political and corporate influence on the procedures for appointing AMA board members, the political affiliation of to the president of AMA and board members and shortcomings in the implementation of the Broadcasting Code for media that broadcast political content recorded during election campaigns" and the state of RTSH "The independence of the public broadcaster is not guaranteed and must be strengthened"

Therefore, as the head of the Media Commission, I must appeal to the government not to ignore the recommendations of the Progress Report again, not to reject any initiative of the opposition that is in line with international demands and not to contribute to the capture of institutions and the intimidation of journalists as it has done until now.