Radio Free Europe will receive over 5 million support. The EU will pay her

The head of EU diplomacy Kaja Kallas after a meeting of foreign ministers announced that Radio Free Europe (RWE) will receive EUR 5.5 million support from the EU. This is short -term emergency financing for supporting independent journalism – she emphasized.

As a result of the regulation signed by US President Donald Trump at the end of March, RWE was informed about the completion of financing. Czech diplomacy appealed for an initiative in this matter. Ten countries, including Poland, supported her appeal to support RWE from EU money.

“In the times of the growing number of unverified content, independent journalism is more important than ever,” said the head of EU diplomacy Kaja Kallas at a press conference after a meeting in Brussels.

“We are preparing a contract for 5.5 million euros with the European Democracy Fund, which will support the work of RWE. This is short -term emergency financing for supporting independent journalism,” she announced.

Kallas emphasized, however, that this amount would not allow RWE to maintain around the world; Therefore, the EU will allocate support to this medium in countries that “are in our neighborhood”. She pointed to the Caucasus and Central Asia.

She added that EU financing will be temporary because the EU is not able to replace the United States in this matter. Member States should think about providing long -term financing.

“When the US withdrew their foreign help, we have been meeting the strategy, which we can finance, because we cannot fill the whole emptiness that was created. We decided that one of the areas would be free media” – emphasized the head of EU diplomacy.

The first programs of RWE founded in 1950 were directed to listeners in Central Europe. The broadcasts were recorded in New York on tapes, which were then sent to Germany. The program was broadcast from around Frankfurt. On August 4, 1950, the first radio broadcast was sent to Poland – the voice of free Poland; It was broadcast for an hour a day.

From Brussels Magdalena Cedro (PAP)

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