A
controversial draft EU Regulation designed to restore confidence in financial benchmarks following the LIBOR and
EURIBOR scandals is set
to undermine press freedom and journalists’ right to protect their sources, if
MEPs fail to adopt important amendments to the proposal on 17th
February.
In an Opinion obtained this week from three
leading UK lawyers led by The Honourable Michael J Beloff QC, the media is
advised that the Draft EU Regulation would be unlawful and therefore vulnerable
to challenge in the European Court if adopted in its current form without an exemption for the media.
Clear amendments to the Draft Regulation that exempt the media have been
proposed by Syed Kamall MEP within the Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee of the European Parliament which is due to vote on the draft report on
the draft Regulation from Sharon Bowles MEP on Monday 17th February.
In line with the
advice of counsel’s opinion a coalition of leading European publishing and
journalists’ associations (EANA, EBP, EFJ, EMMA, ENPA and EPC) is
calling on MEPs to adopt Syed Kamall’s amendments that would exempt the press,
other media and journalists from the Regulation. The European Parliament
Plenary vote is expected to take place on 3rd April.
Director of the European Federation of Journalists
(EFJ) Renate Schroeder said: “As the opinion correctly points out, the Draft Regulation would restrict the ability of media organisations to
continue the work of financial reporting. The obligation to publish sources
will make it impossible to obtain useful information on a confidential basis.”
