Free speech for me, but not for thee?
Time for the EU to act in the defence of free press.
It is 2026, the year of the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, one of the most consequential manifestations of a people’s will to freedom and self-determination against foreign oppression and European colonialism. It is also 2026, a year where the fraying of the post second world war transatlantic alliance between the US and Europe has moved beyond bewilderment and alienation to stages of open strategic competition. Indeed, it is the year 2026 as well, a year where freedom and democracy seems to be on the retreat globally. A year where Reporters without Borders reported a global 25-year low in press-freedom with more than 50% of the world’s population enduring conditions where free access to information and independent media are distant ideas and not a lived reality.
Journalist bullying in front of the European Commission?
Regardless of the multiverse of realities of the year 2026, the 250th anniversary of the birth of a nation is a reason to celebrate, in particular given the importance of the American Independence Declaration for the evolution of liberal democracy that in return built the foundation of the EU today. And as such, it should not be a problem to hold festivities in the capital of Europe hosted by the official representatives of the US to the EU, NATO, and Belgium. It really shouldn’t.
But it is the year 2026, and the Trump administration turned the festivities in Brussels into an invite-only parade of nationalist cliches and corporate banalities instead of honouring a 250-years old nation, whose strength and innovativeness comes from its inherent diversity. But not enough, faced with questions from invited journalists, the ambassador of the US to Belgium reportedly instrumentalised local police to remove those journalists under the absurd pre-text of them being an “active threat”.
This incident is as revealing as it is worrisome. It is revealing the ultimately political ambitions of the Trump administration, where free access to information and a free independent media are seen as threats to the authoritarian agenda pursued. It is worrisome in the brazenness and aggressiveness with which members of the US administration are exporting their agenda, as explicated in the 2025 US Security Strategy, to Europe, not only giving adversarial speeches and endorsing extremist parties, but even co-opting law enforcement for their goals a mere stone's throw away from the headquarters of the European Commission.
Our institutions cannot be silent accomplices
According to Reporters without Borders, only 1% of the world’s population lives in countries with good conditions for the press. It is little consolation that this 1% lives in Europe, since press freedom is under pressure in most of Europe, too, already without inappropriate interventions by US ambassadors.
There is not only the economic strain many independent media experience and the irresponsible defunding of public broadcasters. Across Europe, journalists are also targeted in a wave of lawsuits, not meant to bring justice but to intimidate and silence. We observe the systematic undermining of a sustainable diverse media landscape by governments in Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia. And there is the slow and steady erosion of trust fuelled by social media worlds that have turned from spaces of contact and connection into swamps of misinformation and mazes of fake propaganda.
Rarely has the situation of the media been so dire, and never was it more urgent for the EU and its Member States to step up their support for a vibrant, free, independent, and diversified media landscape. When free speech and media freedom are threatened, our institutions cannot be silent accomplices. Whether it’s journalists being detained, our personal rights being hollowed out by the Commission’s Digital Omnibus or ChatControl being reintroduced yet again by the European Parliament president - let’s not forget that our European institutions must serve the people first and foremost. They must protect our rights to free speech and access to verified and unbiased information from threats emanating from beyond European borders and from within.
Sovereignty emerges from well-informed citizens taking collective action to guarantee their interests are respected, heard, and integrated in the decision-making processes that shape the societal contracts that govern our lives. Because in the end, the enemies of the free press are the enemies of free people. We are certain the 18th century founders of the USA would agree with us.