A new action plan to advance protection of freedom of expression and of the media in the Western Balkans was agreed with partners and beneficiaries during the first Steering Committee Meeting of the joint EU and Council of Europe regional action on “Protecting Freedom of Expression and of the Media in the Western Balkans” (PRO-FREX). The project aims at reinforcing the institutional and legal landscapes related to freedom of expression and freedom of the media in line with the European standards.

The meeting gathered representatives from ministries of justice, media regulatory authorities, data protection and access to information authorities, and journalists’ associations from six Beneficiaries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

They tackled  the main achievements of the action and discussed future interventions in support of the new action plan including peer exchanges and the development of training and capacity-building materials on topics such as protecting journalists from the strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs); access to information; and role of media regulatory authorities in combatting disinformation and harmful content.

The Council of Europe Campaign for the Safety of Journalists, an awareness raising initiative aimed at promoting press freedom and protecting journalists from violence, threats, and harassment while performing their duties, was also presented at the event.

The activity is organised in the framework of action “Protecting Freedom of Expression and of the Media in the Western Balkans” (PRO-FREX), part of the EU and Council of Europe joint programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”, which is enabling the Beneficiaries to meet their reform agendas in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy and to comply with European standards - a priority for the EU enlargement process.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.