The European Commission pushed back a report that’s expected to highlight attacks on media freedom in Italy, a new agenda showed, choosing to publish it after European Parliament members could vote on the reelection of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in mid-July.
POLITICO reported this week how von der Leyen had sought to slow down the release of the annual rule-of-law investigation, which looks into how European Union countries respect media freedom and judicial independence. The report is highly sensitive; this year’s edition is expected to call out fresh rule-of-law concerns in Italy, Slovakia and Greece.
Von der Leyen is seeking a second term as Commission president. She has courted Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, trying to win her support to be nominated by EU leaders in the European Council, and to be confirmed in a European Parliament vote, most likely in mid-July.
Two Commission officials told POLITICO the German politician wanted the report released after the European Parliament voted on the new Commission president. Four officials said there was an attempt at the Commission to avoid open criticism of Italy.
Now, a newly released planning document for the Commission’s weekly College meeting moved the date of the report to July 24 from its previous date of July 3.
The European Parliament gathers for its first plenary session July 16-19. The chamber could vote on von der Leyen’s reappointment if EU leaders nominate her at a European Council meeting at the end of June.
Press associations have dialed up warnings over media freedom threats in Italy in recent months, saying that lawsuits against journalists are on the rise since Meloni took office in 2022. The Commission already criticized Italy in last year’s rule-of-law report over how its defamation law is increasingly being used to go after journalists.
Italian social-democrat member of the European Parliament Brando Benifei on Tuesday asked von der Leyen to clarify her position: “Postponing the report on the rule of law in the European Union due to its critical content toward Italy would be a serious political choice, incompatible with the values of the [European] Union and the very protection of the rule of law,” he wrote on X.
Green European Parliament member Daniel Freund and outgoing liberal lawmakers Sophie in ‘t Veld and Guy Verhofstadt also voiced criticism on X.
The Commission’s chief spokesperson Eric Mamer told reporters on Tuesday that the EU executive’s agenda document is “indicative” and the report on the rule of law “has traditionally been published in July at various times of the month, once even in September.” He declined to clarify the Commission’s position regarding Italy’s media freedom crackdown.
The European Commission’s chief rule-of-law official, Věra Jourová, said this month that the Commission was closely following “negative trends” on media freedom in Italy alongside other countries, including Slovakia.
“I just want to say, specifically about this media situation in Italy, but also elsewhere, in Slovakia and some other states, that we are monitoring different negative trends and that we are sorry that the Media Freedom Act is not [enforceable] yet,” Jourová told journalists in a briefing in Brussels, responding to a question from POLITICO on media freedom in Italy.
A Commission spokesperson later pushed back on POLITICO’s reporting of the comment, saying in a statement from spokesperson Christian Wigand that “it is not about singling out any country. We monitor the situation in Italy as we do in all EU member states in the context of the annual rule of law report. This is what [Vice President] Jourová was referring to.”
Mathieu Pollet contributed reporting.
The post Von der Leyen postpones report critical of Italy’s media crackdown appeared first on Politico.