Ep 199, presented by SQM: Media freedom — European travel — Social summit

Brussels Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.4 • 204 Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is media freedom in Europe under threat? Is the Continent ready to open up as the coronavirus abates? And how much of a social union should the EU be? We tackle all of these questions in this week's episode. In the week of World Press Freedom Day, POLITICO's Lili Bayer lays out the EU countries that give cause for concern, according to Reporters Without Borders. Matthew Karnitschnig explains how the government exerts influence over the media in a Western European country not usually seen as a press freedom blackspot. Lili and Matt, along with POLITICO's Andrew Gray, also discuss how seriously EU leaders take this issue and whether there's anything Brussels can do to protect media freedom around the bloc. Then it's time to talk travel with our mobility reporter Mari Eccles — with details about the European Commission's proposal to open up the EU to travelers from outside the bloc who have been vaccinated or come from countries on an expanded "green list" of approved nations. And finally, we preview the EU's Social Summit in Porto this weekend. Piotr Sadowski and Heather Roy from Social Platform — an alliance of European NGO networks advocating for social justice — explain what they want leaders to do to help protect the most vulnerable in society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	EU Confidential will get started right after this message.
0:04.1	This message is brought to you by SQM.
0:07.1	We are a global company that is committed to human progress,
0:10.6	supplying diverse products to industries such as health, nutrition, clean energy and technology.
0:18.6	Press freedom is not only a right for journalists, it is a right for all of us.
0:25.2	Press freedom protects us.
0:28.3	Let's protect press freedom.
0:33.8	Welcome to EU Confidential.
0:35.8	I'm Andrew Gray, Politico's EU editor in Brussels. And you just heard European Commission Vice President Vera Yurova marking World Press Freedom Day with a pledge that the EU will do more to protect freedom of the media. But how much can and should the EU do? And what is the state of media
0:57.0	freedom in the EU right now? We'll explore those questions in a moment. We'll also get the
1:03.9	lowdown on the European Commission's plans to ease coronavirus travel restrictions and open up the
1:10.6	EU to visitors once again.
1:12.9	And we'll talk about the EU's social summit in Porto, where the Portuguese government wants
1:18.7	leaders to focus on social policy. But not everyone thinks that's a job for the EU.
1:25.5	But first, let's talk media freedom. So we heard European Commission
1:30.6	Vice President Vera Yurova just a moment ago stressing the importance of media freedom. And that message,
1:37.6	she also talked about how important reliable media and sources of information were during the pandemic.
1:45.8	So it's an issue that she and others are putting on the political agenda.
1:50.5	So we thought it would be good to look at it a bit more closely.
1:53.7	And I'm joined by our regular chief correspondent in Berlin, Matt Karnichnik.
1:59.1	Hi, Matt.
2:00.0	Hello.
	...

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