Council of Europe European Union basic information

1. Council of Europe European Union basic information Introduction to the class “European Media Policy”

2. media policy – several explanations and interpretations: basic definition: media policy describes relation between media and society application in private companies : MP - set of rules and duties obligatory for staff and employees in dealing with mass media application in society, in political life: MP - an approach of political bodies representing a society to mass media, an attitude expressed in different measures (legislation, economic policy, case law) based on assumption of public interest, of mass media functionality for a society , in background of any media policy, behind rules and norms laid down for behavior of media, are common values shared and respected in a given society European culture promotes European media policy based on values of political democracy and on human rights

3. What is the Council of Europe (CoE)? It is NOT the EU! The CoE is a separate international organization different from the European Union. The CoE should not be confused with the Council of the European Union as a part of the EU. The CoE is the oldest organization working for European integration since 1949. The EU was evolving gradually from particular treaties since 1951. Council of Europe www.coe.int European Union www.europa.eu 3

4. The Basic Facts about the Council of Europe The CoE was founded on May 5 1949 by the Treaty of London, signed by ten states: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Article 1(a) of the Statute states that "The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realizing the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress." Membership is open to all European states which seek European integration, accept the principle of the rule of law and are able and willing to guarantee democracy, fundamental human rights and freedoms. The CoE's most important achievement is the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, which created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (1959). The Court supervises compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights. 4

5. The Basic Facts about the Council of Europe Upon foundation in 1949 there were ten members.(W. Germany joined the COE 1951) Today, the CoE has 47 member states in the European region. With the exception of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Vatican City all European states have acceded to the Council of Europe. The member states Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Cyprus are extending into Western Asia, Russia into North Asia. Belarus applied for membership, Kazakhstan applied for observer status, but any status could not be granted until their democracy and human rights records improved. The Czech Republic is the CoE member state since 1993 (Czechoslovakia already in 1991) 5

6. www.coe.int http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/CDMSI/default_en.asp

7. The Basic Facts about the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministersis the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Foreign Affairs Ministers of all the member states, or their permanent diplomatic representatives in Strasbourg. Mission: - Enables governments to express on equal terms their national approaches to the problems confronting Europe's societies; - Collective forum where European responses to these challenges are worked out; - Guardian, alongside the Parliamentary Assembly, of the values for which the Council of Europe exists. The Parliamentary Assemblyof the Council of Europe (PACE) consists of a number of individual representatives from each member State, with a President elected each year from among them for a maximum period of three sessions. Whilst in the Committee of Ministers each member State has one vote, in the Parliamentary Assembly the number of representatives and consequently of votes is determined by the size of the country. The Secretary Generalis elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for a period of five years and has the overall responsibility for the strategic management of the Council of Europe’s 7

8. The Basic Facts about the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (1994) brings together the elected representatives of the local and regional communities. It is CoE consultative body and comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions. Commissioner for Human rights (1997) independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote the awareness of and respect for human rights in 47 Council of Europe member states. European Court of Human Rights (1959) see the next lecture 8

9. The Basic Facts about the Council of Europe Facts about CoE activities in the media field: ad hoc body discussing the media issues: Steering Committee on Media and Information Society(CDMSI) before January 2012 acting as the Steering Committee on the Media and New Communication Services(CDMC) webpage: standard setting http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/media/ actual topics: - Media - Data protection - Information Society and Internet Governance - Internet Literacy 9

10. The Basic Facts about the European Union The Council of Europe was the first European assembly, but its creation didn't mean any transfer of powers from its Member States towards the common institutions. The economic and political integration of Western Europe began in earnest with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Development of EU integration The founding treaties: 1951 - the Treaty of Paris on European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) 1957 - the Treaties of Rome, which set up the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) were subsequently amended by: - the Single European Act (1986) - the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht, 1992) - the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) - the Treaty of Nice (2001) - the Lisbon Treaty (2007) 10

11. The Basic Facts about the European Union 1951 - the Treaty of Paris on European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) 1957 - the Treaties of Rome 1992 - the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) 1997 - the Treaty of Amsterdam 2001 - the Treaty of Nice 2007 - the Lisbon Treaty (amendment of treaties 1957 and 1992) Members: 1951 - Belgium, FR Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands 1973 - Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom 1981 - Greece 1986 - Spain, Portugal 1995 - Austria, Finland, Sweden 2004 May - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia 2007 - Bulgaria and Romania 2013, July 1 – Croatia 28th member The aim of the EU: to create a single market enabling free movement of people, services, goods and capital. 11

12. The Basic Facts about the European Union Most important institutions: The Councilis the main decision-making body of the European Union. The ministers of the Member States meet within the Council of the European Union. Depending on the issue on the agenda, each country will be represented by the minister responsible for that subject (foreign affairs, finance, social affairs, transport, agriculture, etc.). The presidency of the Council is held for six months by each Member State on a rotational basis. The European Parliament- is the only directly-elected body of the European Union. The 736 Members of the European Parliament are there to represent you, the citizen. They are elected once every five years by voters right across the 27 Member States of the European Union on behalf of its 500 million citizens. The Commission- consists of 26 Commissioners plus the President. The European Commission is the only EU institution that can initiate legislation. However, before doing this it must consult with interest groups and experts to ensure that the Union’s citizens are being properly served. Once EU legislation has been adopted, the Commission is required to make sure it is implemented properly and fully Commissioners are responsible for a diverse range of portfolios, such as enterprise and industry, transport, institutional relations and communication strategy, agricultural and rural development, and more. They are each assisted by a cabinet (private office) and a department (or Directorate-General) of officials, most of whom are based in Brussels. Commissioners sit for a five-year term. 12

13. Do not get confused CoE vs. EU

14. European citizens' initiative Attempt to overcome „democratic deficit“ in EU in the Lisbon Treaty The European citizens' initiative allows one million EU citizens to participate directly in the development of EU policies, by calling on the European Commission to make a legislative proposal. Three initiatives have collected one million signatures so far: Right to water – the íonly one submitted to Commission, without asnwerd, deadline March 2014 Stop vivisection One of us (against abortion)

15. The Basic Facts about the European Union The founding treaties do not contain any provisions concerning media.Charter of fundamental rights of the EU (2010) mentions the media in Article 11/2:„The freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected.“ Otherwise the media are considered to be a part of culture, which shall not be regulated by EU law. In the Article 151 (167 Lisbon) „Culture“ are following provisions: „The Union shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity… In order to contribute to the achievement of the objectives referred to in this Article: the European Parliament and the Council … shall adopt incentive measures, excluding any harmonisation of the laws and regulationsof the Member States, the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, shall adopt recommendations.“ As to the media issues, the responsibility is on the side of the Member States. (Audiovisual media services are the only exception.) The EU media policy is focused primarily on supporting and promoting culture, including media. 15

16. Media and European Institutions Media issues are involved in the EU policy „Culture, Education and Youth“ webpage http://ec.europa.eu/policies/culture_education_youth_en.htm For EU media policy is responsible Commmissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou cover: Audiovisual and Media Policies http://ec.europa.eu/avpolicy/index_en.htm Media Programme http://ec.europa.eu/culture/media/index_en.htm Media Literacy However since 1 July 2012 audiovisual and media policy is more and more adressed by Vice-President of the Commission Neelie Kroes, responsible for Digital Agenda (Communications Networks, Content and Technology) http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/connect/index_en.htm 16

17. Media and European Institutions The EU deals with the media matters (withexceptionofCharteroffundamentalrights) and adopts binding decisions in this respect only with connection to: - television broadcasting, (“Television without Frontiers” Directive), since 2009 audiovisual media services on demand(AVMS Directive) - EU audiovisual policy (FormerMedia programs – supporting culture products, Media literacy program – supporting media education, program CreativeEuropeadopted 2013) - EU competition policy in the media field (concentration of media, funding of public service broadcasting – regulating business activities) - emerging new media (indirectly as a part of the EU information societypolicies, includingcommunicationnetworks, digital agenda, telecomdirectives) 17

18. Media and European Institutions - conclusions Council of Europe (www.coe.int) - based on Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms -> - very frequently deals with the media issues (close to human rights agenda) - plenty of Recommendations by Committee of Ministers or by Parliamentary Assembly in relation to the media and media policy European Union (www.europa.eu.int) - based on Treaty of Rome which deals primarily with the economic issues > - the EU decisions on media issues are very rare - regulation of the media is regarded as a matter of national policy, unless it is in conflict with the common EU policy - the EU decisions unlike the CoE recommendations are binding to all member states The impact of the CoE documents on media regulation and on transition of the media in the Central East Europe was more significant than the impact of the EU documents in the beginning of the nineties. However, the EU policy is more important now 18

19. Principles of the European Union law Primary legislation: the treaties Secondary legislation: regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations, opinions Regulations and directives are binding to everyone, while decisions only affect the parties to whom they are addressed. Recommendations and opinions serve as a legal instrument enabling to harmonize decisions in a given field. Regulations have direct effect, i.e. they are binding in and of themselves as part of national law, while directives require implementation by national legislation to be effective. Refusal to implement directives as part of national law can be fined by the European Court of Justice. Directives are the most important tool for harmonizing national legislation with the EU law. Directive’s provisions promulgate principles which the member states have to implement into their national law - the way, how it is done, is up to particular countries 19

20. Procedure co-decision

21. Agreement procedure Consultation procedure