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On 15 December 2023, the co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on a regulation establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market (European Media Freedom Act). The Committee on Culture and Education has endorsed the text which is now due to be voted in plenary in March. The EMFA is a historic step, as it will set the first EU-level rules on media freedom, pluralism and the protection of journalists.

An independent media is a pillar of democracy and an important part of the economy, helping to shape public opinion and hold those in power to account. In recent years, however, there have been increasingly worrying trends across the European Union (EU), as documented in the annual rule of law reports by the European Commission, and by other tools such as the Media Pluralism Monitor. Tabled on 16 September 2022, the proposed European media freedom act (EMFA) would introduce a new set of rules to ...

Sport is a field in which the EU’s responsibilities are relatively new, having only been acquired with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009. The EU is responsible for the development of evidence-based policy and for fostering cooperation and managing initiatives in support of physical activity and sport across Europe. A specific budget line was established for the first time under the first Erasmus+ programme (2014-2020) to support projects and networks relating to sport. ...

'Auschwitz didn't appear from nowhere', remarked Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor and child prisoner in the Auschwitz death camp, in January 2020 at the solemn ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The former Auschwitz prisoner described the path from tiny hardships in everyday life and growing discrimination and persecution laws, to the genocide of Jews, the Holocaust. The consecutive stages of shrinking freedom can be summarised as 10 stages of genocide, in a process that could ...

The European Union’s action in the field of culture supplements the cultural policy of the Member States in various areas, such as the preservation of European cultural heritage, cooperation between various countries’ cultural institutions and the promotion of mobility among creative workers. The cultural sector is also affected by provisions of the Treaties that do not explicitly pertain to culture.

Audiovisual policy in the EU is governed by Articles 167 and 173 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The key piece of legislation in this field is the Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which was revised in 2018. The main EU instrument to help the industry (especially the film industry) is the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe programme. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union asks for respect for ‘the freedom and pluralism of the media’.

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the Proposal for a Directive establishing the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card for persons with disabilities, and outlines recommendations. This Proposal represents an important stepping stone to promote free movement of persons with disabilities. It is based on mutual recognition of disability status, but does not harmonise disability assessments. It would ensure that holders of the cards may avail of disability benefits in a range ...

During its November II plenary session, Parliament is expected to vote on a legislative-initiative report on the cultural and creative sectors. The report recommends establishing an EU framework and adopting a directive to bring national approaches closer on various aspects of these sectors, including definitions and social security.

Jews have lived throughout Europe as an important minority for almost two thousand years, and their fate has varied from one period to another according to the changing political situation. Both their prosperity and their relatively peaceful enjoyment of some freedoms have, at times, suddenly been removed. Discrimination, expropriations, banishments, looting and even pogroms have been recurrent events in the lives of Europe's Jewish communities down through the centuries. The Holocaust, initiated ...