Speech at Star4 Media Day
Thank you, Mr Leclercq, I am pleased to be here today at the opening of this special initiative.
I came early to meet Beka, Elena, Iulia, Tetyana, Valeriia, and Vazha.
Their story resonates personally with me. Before entering public service, I was a journalist in Bonn, Germany, first at Deutsche Welle and later as a correspondent.
It was a time of great geopolitical change. The Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union dissolved, and Germany was reunified.
But there was also war in my youth country, Yugoslavia. Healing these scars became a priority.
You have also started during major changes, with war in Ukraine and threats in the Caucasus.
Journalism is different now. Today, there is an abundance of news and social media favoring sensationalism.
The EU is under attack from disinformation campaigns. Combating this is crucial.
European politics often seems complex and unnoticed.
Journalists can establish facts and make the EU understandable to their audience.
You bring new perspectives to Brussels and remind us of Europes diversity.
I invite you for an interview once you are familiar in Brussels.
Media organizations need financial sustainability. Quality journalism is expensive.
The Commission supports independent journalists in partner countries and reacts swiftly through the European Endowment for Democracy.
We recently announced an aid package for Belarus to support independent voices.
I want to help ensure more EU support for independent media.
There are excellent support programs for EU journalists in Brussels. We need to expand these to our Eastern European partners.
Journalists are essential for democracies and we need more correspondents in Brussels.
Congratulations on this fantastic initiative and best of luck.