Sever: Freedom of the Media Drops Down EU Priority List in Accession Negotiations

Maja Sever (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

The president of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Maja Sever, said that the run-up to Croatia’s entry into the European Union (EU) was the best time for journalism in the country, fearing that it would not be the case in Serbia, as the media appeared to have dropped down the Union’s priority list.

“The period before Croatia joined the European Union, when the country was expected to meet a series of entry requirements, is what we call a golden era for media freedoms and journalists, because during the accession negotiations Croatia’s political authorities were trying to do everything they had been expected to do. The requests were serious indeed, even more so than the requests before you,” Sever said on Nov. 29, speaking to the Serbian journalists visiting Zagreb within the project “Pulse of Europe – Media Trips to EU.”

Sever said that the EU was not as strict as it was when the media situation was concerned, and that Bosnia and Herzegovina might be the best example, as “everyone involved in the accession talks and integrations will keep their eyes closed to what’s happening in the media community, including the pressures local journalists are exposed to, for a greater good.”

The same happens in Serbia, she said. “Given the global political situation, the protection of the freedom of the media will be less important than other priorities that European politicians have set in negotiations and talks with Serbian politicians,” Sever said. She added that Serbian political leaders “can do whatever they want” when the media were concerned, and that some things that had been done in Serbia could hardly be seen anywhere else, even though journalists were targeted all over the world.