On Wednesday, 4 October 2023, during the plenary session in Strasbourg, MEP Irena Joveva contributed to the debate on decent housing for all. She pointed out that millions of young people in employment cannot afford their own apartment.  “That’s working young people,” she underscored, adding that a home should be a basic right for a decent life for all of us.

“There are 700,000 homeless women and men on Europe’s streets,” said the MEP in her introduction. Although we have set ourselves the goal at the EU level to eradicate this problem by 2030, it is only getting worse, as homelessness rates continue to surge.

In addition, she said, millions of young people in employment cannot even afford to live in their own homes. “Working young people,” she emphasised. And moreover, the situation has deteriorated markedly in recent years due to the health, economic and energy crises.

“The sad truth is that 34 million Europeans are unable to afford proper heating, and this is a fact.”

Action is urgent, she continued, because current progress in addressing housing issues is too slow. Joveva believes that targeted action by Member States, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable, will be key.

“A home should be a basic right for a decent life of all of us, regardless of social and economic status,” she concluded.

You can watch her plenary address here.

BACKGROUND:

In January 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on access to decent and affordable housing for everyone in Europe. It called on the Commission and the Member States to make housing one of the cornerstones of the Action Plan of the European Pillar of Social Rights and to improve their action to engage all levels of government in fully and consistently implementing the right to decent housing for all. It welcomed the inclusion of housing affordability in the European Semester. The Parliament stressed that the investment gap for affordable housing amounts to EUR 57 billion per year and called on the Commission and the Member States to further increase investment in social, public, energy-efficient, adequate and affordable housing in the EU.

Photo: EP – Christian Creutz

On Tuesday, 3 October 2023, during the Strasbourg plenary session, MEP Irena Joveva discussed the European Media Freedom Act. She stressed that the risk of undermining media freedom exists across the European Union and that no country is immune. “The public media, a pillar of credible information for the people, are in many places – though fortunately no longer in Slovenia – at the very least subject to subjugation attempts.”

The MEP began her speech by noting that in the European Union’s endeavours to defend the rule of law, the media have always been somewhat neglected, even though their independence is a prerequisite for the functioning of our democracy.

“In some Member States media systems are functioning well, but, unfortunately, in many countries they are completely subjugated. In those cases, they have become the primary tool for manipulating people in order for certain political structures to maintain power. Hungary, Poland…”

She proceeded to mention the potential threat to media freedom throughout the European Union, which she corroborated with proven cases of spying, even murders of journalists on European soil, and non-transparent takeovers of media companies for vested interests. “The public media, a pillar of credible information for the people, are in many places – though fortunately no longer in Slovenia – at the very least subject to subjugation attempts.”

The MEP believes it was high time to adopt additional legal safeguards at the European level. The Parliament has put in place the necessary legal framework to ensure protection, which is the most it can do as legislator.

“There is no magic wand to solve all the issues that have accumulated,” warned Joveva, who is convinced that the European Media Freedom Act is currently the most decisive step towards ensuring just that: media freedom. “No one should be afraid of it… except those who aim to undermine it,” she concluded.

Today, MEPs also voted on the Act. It was adopted by 448 votes to 102, with 75 abstentions. Joveva was one of the rapporteurs drafting the parliamentary text on behalf of her political group Renew Europe in the responsible Committee on Culture and Education.

You can watch her plenary address here.

Photo: EP – Mathieu Cugnot

Promises are there to be kept!

And not long ago, I promised to provide more comprehensive explanations of the specific articles of the European Media Freedom Act. Before you stop reading because it might be “boring”, the reason behind this article is to offer you a better insight and sense of what exactly we MEPs do in the European Parliament and what a law consists of. Out of numerous laws, this particular one about the media is one of the crucial ones in this term. And since I have been entrusted with the task of negotiating it, I am familiar with the background behind every word and down to the letter. It’s easy to understand why. I have been engaged in its making from start to finish.

Today, I will focus on Articles 6 and 24 that were also centre stage during yesterday’s event in Brussels and speak about the obligation of the media – and of states – to act in a transparent fashion.

We all know that the media play an essential role in society. They provide us with information that is crucial for holding the authorities to account, for casting our votes in elections, for civic participation and more. They are key to the functioning of democracy, and all of them are (potentially) a target of (attempts at) exerting influence. Of course, there is nothing wrong with each media outlet publishing the content it wants. While adhering to basic journalistic and professional standards, that is. It is up to you to decide who – and how much – you trust. Nobody wants to restrict freedom of speech, but we can probably all agree that it is right to publicly disclose media ownership. So that you may all critically evaluate if there are any hidden agendas at play.

Media ownership transparency was already foreseen by the European Commission in its proposal, and the European Parliament has significantly extended these obligations. The media will have to:

• publicly disclose and explain any ownership links with other companies,
• disclose whether they are (directly or indirectly) state-owned,
• disclose how much funding they receive from state advertising or other public sources; and
• disclose any possible connections with politically exposed people and their close associates as well as their financial interests.

In practice, Member States will have to allow the competent regulatory authority to enter all this data into a publicly accessible database, which will then be merged into a common European Union database.

In continuation, state bodies, state-owned companies and all public institutions will have to ensure that the allocation of their funds for advertising and for the purchase of other goods and services from the media follows transparent, objective and non-discriminatory criteria. This is where most of the abuses occur, as some individuals flout all the rules and exploit state funds to financially bolster the media that align with them, either for the purpose of control or seeking favours.

So now, each purchase will have to be publicly disclosed and include a brief explanation of why the particular media outlet or portal was chosen for advertising. Certain fundamental elements, such as the reach of advertising, target audience, and best available offer, simply cannot be ignored.

Due to the large amount of such data, it has been decided that the national regulatory authority will carry out and publish an annual review of all such state purchases. This should be done in the form of an annual report of all transactions by state-owned enterprises with individual media companies. In cases of suspected abuse, the regulator will be able to request further explanations and information from state-owned enterprises, and in the event of infringements it will be possible to bring court proceedings at Union level.

In EU Member States, abuses occur to varying degrees, ranging from severe instances in Hungary, for example, where the media system has been entirely dismantled through such state funding methods, to less extreme cases in more regulated countries; but unfortunately, none are immune to abuses.

As a next step, these obligations were extended to online platforms, where there is also (potential for) abuse. In addition, these platforms directly compete with traditional media for advertising revenue while also serving as a means for accessing that same media. It would be unjust to exclude them from the scope.

All these mechanisms will now have to be set up at national level and it is true that they will result in additional work for public institutions, but this is the only way to put the situation right. To give you a clear overview of where your money is being channelled through state-owned companies or public institutions, and where the media is being funded from. It is appropriate that the system of rules is established at the European level.

These were Articles 6 and 24, which – I have to say this – following difficult parliamentary negotiations, now include most of my proposals and amendments. The text will be voted on in plenary next week.

– Irena

On Monday, 25 September 2023, MEP Irena Joveva MEP and a number of other Slovenian women politicians were invited to a roundtable organised as part of the EWA project – Empowering Women in Active Society. During the event, the participants spoke about the challenges women face when entering politics, the importance of women’s political representation and, last but not least, encouraging young women to become more involved in public and political life. In this context, Joveva emphasised that “politics is not and should not be only a man’s world”.

The roundtable began with the participants answering a question posed by artificial intelligence: what is the reason, and above all the inspiration, for entering politics? Joveva answered that when she was offered the opportunity to actively engage in shaping policies and adopting decisions, she simply could say no. She knew she would never go back to being a journalist, but if she had been happy with the MEPs in the former composition of European Parliament, she would not have decided to enter the political arena at all, because she would not have had to, she added.

“I have found that changing the world through different means is difficult. Even though none of us here can change it alone, there are things that can be done. I think that each one of us present here today is a good role model for women in our individual area of activity.”

She also shared a more personal inspiration, which convinced her that the decision was right: “On the very day of the European elections, 26 May 2019, I had been due to give birth. But I’d had a miscarriage some time before. Unfortunately, but in the end, this served as my inspiration. You can attribute this to the universe, to coincidence, whatever, the fact is that it happened. Today I have a two-year-old child. Everything happened as it was inevitably meant to. I have done a lot and I believe I can do a lot more.”

When asked about the key strengths and skills that have helped her in politics, she highlighted her communication skills, as well as the experience she gained in journalism. This is why she chose to focus on the media in her work as an MEP, including on the European Media Freedom Act, which the European Parliament will be adopting at its next plenary session. General life experience has also proven to be useful, she added: “If you have a desire and a goal, many things are possible. My success is solely due to my own efforts. I started from scratch.”

While Joveva does not believe she faces any gender-related disadvantage in her position at the European Parliament, she does encounter unequal treatment in the realm of social media and certain media outlets:

“Or in the media that do not deserve the name. They always come up with something. It doesn’t really matter what the substance is or what I want to say, the comments are always the same. Related to my gender, origin, appearance. I’m sure there would be less of that if I were a man.”

Joveva is also convinced that her male colleagues do not get asked as many questions about how they manage to juggle their work and family life. Although she doesn’t mind them, she stressed that such working arrangements need increasingly to be regarded as ordinary, because she is “neither the first nor the last new mother with a job, whatever it may be.”

Finally, the MEP told the young students and all women who are hesitant about taking an active part in politics that they need to be much more confident, curious, persistent and dare to show who they are.

“Politics is not and should not be only a man’s world. Don’t base your decision on whether to enter politics on that. Get actively involved. Because you can do it. You have what it takes.”