Majerczak of Reporters without Borders: Media Situation in Serbia Worrying, EU Must Be More Vocal

Julie Majerczak (Photo: Nevena Zaric)

The head of the Brussels office of Reporters Without Borders, Julie Majerczak, said that the European Commission should be more vocal and more decisive regarding the media situation in Serbia, which she described as very concerning.

Majerczak told a group of journalists from Serbia in Brussels that her organization had repeatedly briefed the European Commission about the situation in Serbia, but, according to her, the Commission had been reluctant to confront the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic. She added that the Reporters without Borders would keep warning the European Commission at the developments regarding the freedom of the media in Serbia.

"I think they now realize that it may be time to say 'enough', or perhaps to stop or suspend some funding," Majerczak said. She added that when it comes to Serbia, there were several issues for the European Commission to discuss, media freedoms among those raised most frequently.

"The EU needs to be more vocal. I think hesitation is not an option," Majerczak said, adding that withholding funds is usually the most effective threat, as demonstrated in the case of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Majerczak also said that Europe was still the region where media freedom was best protected and where journalists were the safest, but that there was no room for complacency, as the deterioration of media freedom was also taking place in democracies.