A packed plenary week in Strasbourg saw the European Parliament issue a number of positions relevant to Public Service Media (PSM) on media freedom, democracy in the EU accession States, trade and media regulation.

On Tuesday 21 May, the own-initiative report by MEP Renate Weber on ‘standard settings for media freedom across the EU’ highlighted the important contribution made by PSM.

Head of European Affairs for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Affairs Nicola Frank welcomed the report:  “It highlights important points about the role of PSM, which we hope will also be reflected in the current European Commission consultation on media freedom and pluralism.”

In brief, the report:

• recalls that Protocol 29 to the Treaties recognizes that the system of public broadcasting in the Member States is directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society and to the need to preserve media pluralism
• acknowledges that the provision of internet services by public service media contributes to their mission of ensuring that citizens are able to access information and form their opinion from a variety of sources
• notes that in a multimedia society in which there are now greater numbers of commercially-driven global market players, public service media are essential
• stresses the need for PSM to have sufficient and sustainable funding, also for online activities.

On Thursday, the Parliament also re-emphasized the importance of strengthening PSM independence in the EU accession countries in two different reports on Bosnia-Herzegovina and on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The views echo those adopted in April in similar reports on Turkey and Croatia.

On the same day, the EBU welcomed a Resolution on an upcoming EU-US Trade agreement, where the European Parliament called for a complete exclusion of the audiovisual sector from the EU negotiation mandate.

Finally, an Own-initiative report by MEP Piotr Borys on the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive was adopted on Wednesday. In the report, the Parliament calls for 'a full impact assessment of the current state of play on the market and of the regulatory framework.'