Let’s make it worthy of its name, says MEP Casa on Daphne’s Law

The European Parliament voted strongly in favour of the anti-SLAPP Directive, following a lively debate during today's plenary session in Strasbourg.

“After the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Maltese media houses were targeted by a criminal bank with legal action that could have crippled them financially. Daphne herself was targeted by a US law suit for many millions which she was unaware of at the time of the assassination,” Casa recounted, referring to the point over 5 years ago when the campaign for EU legislation to counter SLAPP began. 

“We have an opportunity to address these abusive practices and we must not squander it”, stated Mr Casa in response to efforts by the Council to water down the Directive dubbed Daphne’s Law by Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová.

“We must stand with European citizens and against those who wish to keep them in the dark. We must stand for democracy, transparency and the free press”. 

Mr Casa was the first to call for a European directive to address what he had deemed abusive practices resorted to by criminals and other bad actors who used legal procedures to silence critics and intimidate journalists. He has campaigned for this legislation for over five years. 

Casa lauded the progress that has been made so far and thanked the European Parliament team and Commission Vice President Věra Jourová for their work while warning against the member states’ efforts to weaken the law. 

“Let’s ensure Daphne’s law will be worthy of its name”, Casa appealed to the plenary in Strasbourg