Brussels, June 1 (CTK correspondent) – The situation of Czech media poses no threat to democracy in the country, members of the European Parliament mostly agreed on Thursday in a debate on the risk of political abuse of Czech media.
This position was shared by European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom, who represented the EC in the debate, which was initiated in reaction to the recent release of recordings indicating that ANO leader Andrej Babis used the media he owned against his political rivals.
Most Czech MEPs who took part in the EP debate said media freedom was not threatened in the country and the scandal showed the failure of a single person, the politician and rich businessman Babis.
The recordings, in which Babis talks with a journalist about articles discrediting rival politicians, were one of the reasons why he had to leave the posts of Czech finance minister and deputy prime minister in May.
The debate lasted about one hour and only a few dozens of the 751 MEPs followed it.
Babis tweeted on Thursday that MEPs elected for the Czech opposition Communists (KSCM) and TOP 09 disgraced their country in front of the empty parliament.
EP Vice President Pavel Telicka (ANO) said Babis’s action was unacceptable. He said he called on Babis to explain what exactly happened.
The Czech Republic has functioning democratic institutions and their capabilities to deal with such problems have not been limited, Telicka said.
Babis’s ANO is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE).
On behalf of the European People’s Party (EPP), MEP Ludek Niedermayer (TOP 09) said the young Czech democracy and rule of law faced the brutal force with which some top politicians pushed through their political and economic interests.
Niedermayer said public media were of a great importance and had to be protected.
German MEP Ingeborg Grassle (CDU; EPP) said the case did not concern the Czech Republic, but merely Babis’s huge conflict of interests. She said Babis’s firms have received over five billion crowns in EU subsidies so far.
Czech Social Democrat (CSSD) MEP Pavel Poc (Party of European Socialists, PES) said neither the Czech government nor any state body systematically abused media. A single person, unfortunately a deputy prime minister, did not resist the temptation of using his business empire to increase his own power, Poc said about Babis.
He recalled that the lower house of Czech parliament declared in May that Babis lied and abused his media to discredit his rivals.
Czech MEP Katerina Konecna (KSCM/ European United Left, GUE-NGL) said cases of politicians influencing independent media reappeared in the EU and could not be easily prevented.
She said Telicka, ALDE Group head Guy Verhofstadt and Czech European Commissioner Vera Jourova, who represented ANO, were in a conflict of interests when dealing with Babis’s case.
Several Czech MEPs said the EP debate seemed rather pointless to them, including Jan Zahradil (Civic Democrats, ODS/ European Conservatives and Reformists, ECR), Jiri Pospisil (TOP 09) and Tomas Zdechovsky (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL/ EPP).
Zahradil said the EP could not solve the problem and the only solution was to fight Babis in Czech elections.
Earlier this week, the situation of Czech media was discussed by the EP Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). This meeting also concluded that democratic structures in the Czech Republic were not threatened.
Adam Cerny, head of the Czech Syndicate of Journalists, reported about the situation at the LIBE meeting. Erik Tabery, Czech Respekt weekly magazine’s editor-in-chief, said the Czech Republic had quality public media and he warned of attacks against them. A representative of the Czech Culture Ministry acquainted the meeting with the relevant Czech legislation, including the recent amendment to the conflict of interest law that was dubbed Lex Babis.
