On 23rd January we organised a conference together with Fondation Euractiv about the media sector. What can the EU do to support independent journalists? What is a role of the media sector in a democracy? Can we do more to help the innovation of the media?
Healthy democracies need a healthy media sector. Yet, faced with multiple attacks and challenges, notably technological and financial, the sector needs a coordinated response. This conference gathered 80+ participants from EU Digital and Media sector. Media independence for quality debates: This first exchange was focused on media independence and freedom of the press in Europe, moderated by Stephen Boucher, with MEP and Benedek Jávor (Greens/EFA), RSF, and other high-level speakers from the media, foundations and NGOs. Keynote speech: Digital Commissioner Mariya Gabriel What can the EU do for the media sector’s sustainability: This second panel was moderated by Christophe Leclercq and bring together key MEPs, notably Maria Joao Rodrigues (S&D), academics, industry representatives, foundations and NGOs.
On the occasion of the International Roma Day, the European Parliament is hosting a week-long program filled with workshops, conferences, exhibitions, awards and other events to celebrate the Roma culture. This year, the Greens have issued a publication titled Countering Antigypsism in Europe, which was introduced to the public today with introductory remarks from MEP Benedek Jávor. The agenda of the event and the publication itself in English are attached below:
Mr. Jávor’s introductory remarks can be read in full below:
Combating Antigypsyism and a gender and youth dimension in the current and post-2020 EU Roma Policy
Hosted by Greens/EFA in cooperation with ERGO Network
Introductory Remark by Benedek Jávor:
The International Roma Day (April 8) is a day to celebrate Roma culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Roma people. We Greens in the European Parliament felt the importance of the Roma Day hence we are proud to be participating in the cooperation of political groups for the second time to celebrate it in the European Parliament in order to show in Europe who Roma people really are and indeed to raise awareness of the problems they are facing.
In the preparation of this year’s Roma Day the Roma Working Group of the Greens/EFA Group has decided to prepare a book about Roma with a dual aim:
To present the urgent problems the Roma facing today: the forms of antigypsyism, forms of discrimination and segregation,the political dimensions in the Member States and in Europe and about the recognition of the Roma identity in Europe.
and our position and ideas as Greens how to tackle them.
Of course there are no easy and fast solutions to almost none of those problems.
The history of racism and discrimination has a many century long history in general and against Roma as well. Systemic antigsypsyism can be found on all field of life:
it happens that state owned companies fail to employ a person with Roma sounding name,
officials in local authorities do not accomplish their best and don’t share all the necessary information with a person with an address from specific area of a Roma settlement;
police stops persons in order to verify their identity when simply walking on street with 150% more chance if she /he has visibly darker skin color.
But antigypsyism can be found on highest level when EU funds are directed in a way that they:
maintain and support of segregated schools;
systematically supporting the only non-Roma schools
and preventing Roma to have access to quality, equal, non-segregated schooling.
But Roma are not the only society group in need. Poverty is in rise among Central Eastern European countries social strata’s. I know quite precisely that for example 21% – approximately 800,000 – of Hungarian households are considered to live in poverty. In poverty which is comparable to third world countries. Such poverty includes energy poverty, in which Roma (who consist only 7-8% of the Hungarian society) are extremely overrepresented. In their case this is a real struggle when important decisions must taken during wintertime: what to finance heating or the other costs.
We those politicians committed towards green technologies are sure that there are methodologies, techniques and tools available for such cases. The internet – including the most popular video sharing sites – are full with short videos explaining how could the poorest people make heat support supply out of empty beer cans, LED light system out of a single and cheap solar panel and and a car accumulator, solar grill equipment out of an empty shoe box.
Of course we as Greens have a long history of speaking out against racism and discrimination and stepping up for minorities. But we also must take a look on ourselves and strictly scrutinize whether the EU has done everything in order to make these people’s life easier; have we made the maximum to channelize EU funds towards those most in deprivation, or are we sure that EU funds were not used in a way that made the gap between Roma and non Roma, marginalized and better of people even bigger?
If the answer is “no”, or – even worse – “we don’t know” than we European decision makers here in the Parliament, in the Commission and in other European bodies will have to re-plan our approach towards Roma. Because their problems are not simply their individual, personal issue but it will effectuate the Member State’s and therefore whole Europe’s competitiveness.
I know that our booklet is not changing al circumstances around us, I am afraid that it will not have an effect to stop or even eliminate anti-gipsyism from one day to other I also hardly believe that it was the only thing needed to change the entire EU support system. But I strongly believe that is a tiny but important step towards a better working EU for all of us. I wish you a fruitful conversation!
Antoine Deltour, the whistleblower behind the LuxsLeaks scandal, was sentenced to 18 months suspended on first instance. On the second instance, the attorney asked for dispensation, the prosecutor for exasperation. The first day of the second instance trial was yesterday in Luxembourg, several members of Greens/EFA group were present. Jávor Benedek spoke in his defense (and that of his colleagues, Raphael Halet and journalist Edouard Perrin) on the solidarity protest.
However, Deltour’s story is not unique. Many whistleblowers are similarly facing various official and legal procedures, threats and others ways to annihilate their work and life. Four whistleblowers came to Luxembourg, including András Horváth, who reported on the systematic tax evasion on the scale of 1000 billion forint and the Hungarian Tax Authorities’ (NAV) blind eye towards the tax evasion techniques of multinational corporations. The lack of protection of whistleblowers does not only concern the whistleblowers, it also discourages others to make public those abuses they know about. Therefore the public’s interest is harmed. That is why we need strong, European-wide protection of whistleblowers. The Greens have prepared a draft for a whistleblower directive. The European Parliament has claimed at various times to support the creation of such a directive. Now it is time for the Commission and the Member states to make it happen.
Discussion between Benedek Jávor and András Horváth here.
The European Greens, the DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement) and the Progressive Hungary Foundation has organised a one-day-long conference in Budapest at the A38 ship on 19 September 2016.
Benedek Jávor and more than twenty other speakers came to take part in five international and one Hungarian round table talks. 250 people attended the venue in Budapest and several hundred people followed it on our live stream.
European progressive and green politicians, thinkers and leaders came to the conference, among others Yanis Varoufakis previous Greek minister of finance, the initiator of DiEM25, Philippe Lamberts co-chair of European Greens or Zoltán Pogátsa Hungarian DiEm25 initiator, economist. This was the first international public conference when European Greens and DiEM25 leaders discussed various issues. There were diverging views in certain topics, but the commitment for rethinking the foundations of European integration was the same.
Benedek Jávor in his opening speech emphasised the EU has torn away from its citizens, but the nation state can no longer mitigate the consequences of the mistakes made at EU level. The real conflict is not between the EU and the nation states but “between the policies that serve the interests of and are accountable to the community, and the policies implemented by the corrupt elites and conducted against the interests of the community, both at EU and national level.”
(The conference will take place on Monday, 19th of September)
Below you can find the live streaming of our conference titled “The Future of Europe – The Europe of the Future”.
The event is broadcast in two languages at once. In order to choose your preferred language the easiest way is to use headphones. Once you plug your headphones into your device you will hear the recording in two languages, one on each side. Either take out or switch off the side that is not the preferred language.
In case you do not have headphones, you will have to set the ‘Balance’ function on either the loudspeakers by turning the “balance” button left or right, or in the settings of your computer. If you are using Windows 7, 8 or 10, you can change the balance settings by clicking on Start -> Control Panel, where you will find the ‘Hardware and Sound’ settings. In the dialogue box that appears, click on the ‘Sound’ tab. Under the ‘Properties’ option you will find ‘Speakers properties’ where the ‘Levels’ tab will offer you the ‘Balance’ settings. Here you can adjust the volume of individual speakers by moving the sliders of left or right.
If you are using Mac OS you can set the balance by clicking System Preferences -> Sound -> Output and shift the slider of the ‘Balance’ section left or right.
You will hear the broadcast in English on the left side.
Mr. Benedek Jávor’s message on the political participation of Romas was given on the occasion of the European Roma Information Office’s conference titled “Strengthening Roma Political Participation”. The conference was held 10th of June, 2016; Mr. Jávor’s video message can be watched below.
A joint conference was held in Budapest by Policy Solutions Institute and the Greens of the European Parliament on the 18th of March on the role of Russia on the European energy market.
From among the speakers of the conference, MEP Benedek Jávor named energy dependency the most pressing issue of Europe in conjunction with the migration crisis. In his opinion Russia’s negative influence both on Europe and Hungary partially leaks through the developments of the energy market. This dependency on Russia is present not in the form of gas-dependence, but also of nuclear dependence and through the influence of Russian players among company owners in the energy market.
An additional problem, Mr. Jávor pointed out, is the influence of the Russian secret services on energy market decision-making processes, which poses a national safety threat as well. He urged action to be taken in the form of, for example, gaining intelligence on the existing risks as well as recognizing that the solution reaches beyond the simple diversification of gas supply sources. He also called attention to the need of the strict application of existing EU regulations as well as the establishment of new legal procedures.
Tamás Boros, director of strategy at Policy Solutions (a Hungarian institute for political advice and analysis), introduced the institute’s recent study, made in collaboration with the Greens, on the topic of Russia’s role in the EU energy market and the energy dependency of various Eastern European countries as well as Germany, Austria, Finland and Greece. The study shows that the majority of these countries rely heavily on Russian energy import and Hungary is one of the least independent countries, as its dependency on Russia is determined by its gas, oil and nuclear energy needs. Mr. Boros pointed out, however, that the dependency is mutual, as Russia is dependent on money coming from Europe.
Julia Sokolovicova, adviser for the East-Central European segment of Greencpeace, called attention to the strengthened dependency on Russia in connection with the European projects of Rosatom.
The abovementioned study of Policy Solutions has recently been published and is now available in English by clicking here.
What can we, in Europe, do to facilitate this shift from short-sightedness in policy making towards long-term decision making? What is the way forward and why does it matter?
This event aimed to facilitate a discussion around the above questions and provide an overview of existing practices at UN, EU and MS level. Also, it identifed options for better integrating the rights of future generations, better implementing intergenerational equity and bringing long-term thinking into EU policymaking. Contributions were from high representative of the UN (the UN Assistant Secretary General), the European Commission (the Cabinet of Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Karl Falkenberg from the European Policy Strategy Centre) as well as from academia.
In particular, a new report from the Institute for European Environmental Policy and the World Future Council was also discussed. It offers practical, credible options and recommendations for creating and formalising ‘Guardian for Future Generations’ role at EU level.
