“New EU laws needed to protect journalists” - VP Roberta Metsola

Draft Anti-SLAPP report published

European Parliament rapporteurs tasked with establishing new measures to protect journalists are calling for direct EU legislation to safeguard journalists from abusive lawsuits filed to silence them.

The process in the Parliament is led by First Vice-President Roberta Metsola and Socialist MEP Tiemo Wölken. It aims at stopping the so-called SLAPP lawsuits across Europe. Their draft report has now been published.

VP Roberta Metsola said “Our report provides concrete proposals that aim to reduce SLAPPs around Europe. In particular, since no EU member state has yet introduced any anti-SLAPP legislation, the report calls for an EU directive, which would provide minimum safeguards for media freedom and freedom of expression in general.”

“Moreover, the report recommends mechanisms that would allow Courts to be able to dismiss SLAPP suits summarily and provide effective penalties against abusive SLAPP actions. It recommends a revision of existing legislation in order to reduce forum shopping or ‘libel tourism’. And includes a number of complementary ‘soft’ measures such as an EU fund for victims of SLAPPs, adequate training for judges and lawyers as well as a ‘one-stop-shop’ information hub for victims of SLAPP suits.”

“The key here is balance. Legitimate claims must of course be protected. It is the claims which are manifestly unfounded, or which are a clear abuse of process that must be addressed - those that are not designed to protect rights but to silence. These are all measures that we can introduce and measures that journalists have been calling for. Journalism should not come with a health warning or risk of financial ruin at the hands of crooks. Those who abuse our legal systems - often through forum shopping across borders - to try to silence journalists should find no protection in our Europe. It is time to boost our legislative armoury and that is what we want to achieve with this cross-party, cross-committee report”, said VP Metsola.

The draft Report is available here.

What are the next steps?

The next step is the presentation of anti-SLAPP report by the co-rapporteurs (Roberta Metsola (EPP, Malta) and Tiemo Wölken (S&D, Germany) in the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the other committee on Legal Affairs. MEPs within these two committees will then have the opportunity to submit their amendments to the text. 

What are SLAPPs?

SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation) have become an increasingly growing phenomenon around Europe. They rarely have a legitimate claim and they are barely geared towards obtaining a favourable judicial outcome. Instead, they have the specific aim of silencing the defendant by subjecting the person to lengthy, burdensome and expensive lawsuits, often in another jurisdiction.