On World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on 3 May, the European Union reaffirmed its resolute commitment to defend free, pluralistic, independent and qualitative journalism against the pressure mounting around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocracy cannot exist without a free press. Independent media is a cornerstone of any democratic society. Access to media, along with freedom of expression are not \u2018nice to haves\u2019, they are fundamental human rights,\u201d<\/em> EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said in a statement on behalf of the European Union. \u201cInternational law is clear: journalists must be protected at all times. They must be able to carry out their work freely, without undue interference, fear of violence, harassment, intimidation, persecution or expulsion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Kallas added that this was especially critical in conflict zones, where journalists shed light on the realities of war, including atrocities and potential war crimes.<\/p>\n At the same time, 2025 was the deadliest year for journalists worldwide ever recorded: \u201cThe killing of journalists and media professionals \u2013 as we have seen in Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine and in the current conflicts in the Middle East, recently in Gaza and in Lebanon as well as in Africa \u2013 should be fully investigated and those responsible must be held accountable,\u201d <\/em>Kallas said.<\/p>\n She also said that the EU was decrying intimidation and repression against journalists taken by authoritarian regimes across the world, saying that governments must set a solid legal framework to protect their journalists from abusive court proceedings.<\/p>\n Kallas also highlighted that the EU supports independent platforms and journalists through partnership with organisations such as the European Endowment for Democracy and also supports the vital UN efforts to protect journalists and media workers globally, including by working together with UNESCO. Also, at the regional level, the EU works with other organisations, such as the Council of Europe and the OSCE, to uphold the rights of journalists and the freedom of the media.<\/p>\n \u201cAt home and around the world, the European Union will continue to defend press freedom,\u201d<\/em> Kallas\u2019 statement concluded.<\/p>\n Find out more<\/strong><\/p>\n Press release<\/a><\/p>\n The post \u2018Democracy cannot exist without a free press,\u2019 EU says at World Press Freedom Day 2026<\/a> appeared first on EU NEIGHBOURS east<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On World Press Freedom Day, celebrated on 3 May, the European Union reaffirmed its resolute commitment to defend free, pluralistic, independent and qualitative journalism against the pressure mounting around the world. \u201cDemocracy cannot exist without a free press. Independent media is a cornerstone of any democratic society. Access to media, along with freedom of expression are not \u2018nice to haves\u2019, they are fundamental human rights,\u201d EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said in a statement on behalf of the European Union. \u201cInternational law is clear: journalists must be protected at all times. They must be able to carry out their work<\/p>\n The post \u2018Democracy cannot exist without a free press,\u2019 EU says at World Press Freedom Day 2026<\/a> appeared first on EU NEIGHBOURS east<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":56169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[507,5],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-56167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56167"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57168,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56167\/revisions\/57168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56167"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eu4armenia.eu\/hy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=56167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}