Discharge 2024: General budget of the EU - Commission

Tabled by Dick Erixon, Cristian Terheş

117. Notes Added: with concern that the Commission allocated EUR 8 million in 2024 and EUR 20,9 million in Removed: 2025 Added: 2025, representing an increase of 160 %, for calls for proposals for the production of content on Union affairs … a free, independent and pluralistic press is a cornerstone of democratic accountability; Removed: considers that Union support for media can contribute to strengthening media pluralism and informed public debate across the Union, provided that strict safeguards are in place to ensure full editorial independence and transparency; underlines the importance of transparency regarding all financial support, including grants, contracts and indirect funding provided to media organisations, and that such information should be easily accessible and clearly presented; Added: stresses, however, that such funding risks creating structural financial dependency between media organisations that should serve as independent watchdogs and the institutions they cover; underlines that public trust in both media and EU institutions is undermined when journalists reporting on EU affairs receive direct or indirect funding from those institutions; calls on all EU institutions to cease direct funding of media production about EU affairs; further calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the Parliament and the Council, to establish a unified inter-institutional media transparency portal, easily accessible to the public, disclosing all media outlets receiving Union funds, including detailed data on sub-grants within consortia, so that citizens can identify the ultimate beneficiaries of Union media funding and verify that journalistic watchdogs remain transparent about their financial backing;

Wording as published by the EP, in English. PE783.213