The International Press Association (API-IPA), representing foreign correspondents accredited to the European Union, strongly deplores the lack of transparency shown by the European Commission during the presentation of the revised Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) on Wednesday 16 July.
Several breaches were observed of a formal agreement [https://www.api-ipa.org/european-commission] between the Commission and API that was last updated on 15 March 2023. This severely impacted the ability of journalists to accurately and promptly report on a key policy event.
“This agreement lays out clear rules for providing journalists with the information they need to fulfill their task: to deliver trustworthy information to the public. This is clearly in the interest of both the Commission and the press. By breaching the agreement, the Commission not only damages its relationship with accredited journalists — it also puts in doubt its own trustworthiness with the general public,” says API-IPA President Dafydd ab Iago.
“It was absurd to present a highly complex €2 trillion, seven-year budget — radically different in structure from previous MFFs — without even providing a basic table of figures. This appears to be an attempt to instrumentalise and confuse, delivering PR content with no possibility of verification by correspondents. The press materials were also incomplete,” ab Iago adds.
API-IPA deplores the following breaches:
- Lack of Planning Transparency: There were insufficient details shared on the planning of the day. No agenda was communicated until the media advisory announcing President von der Leyen’s press conference — sent just six minutes before its start. This violates the agreement requiring that the agenda for the current and following day be sent each morning on working days (point II.c.).
- Delayed Communication of Decisions: The press release on the MFF was only circulated at the end of the president’s press conference — long after the conclusion of the College meeting where the legislative decisions were taken. This is a breach of the API-Commission agreement (point I.c.), which stipulates that journalists should be informed of decisions immediately.
- Lack of Access to Legislative Texts: No legislative texts were made available to the press until late on 16 July. A limited number of legislative texts were then uploaded to the Commission’s website. Even by the morning of Thursday 17 July, nearly 24 hours after the decisions were made, there was no indication from the Commission that further texts would follow. Additional documents were only discreetly published around midday.
- Lack of accurate technical data: presenting a complicated long-term budget with a new structure, without even publishing the underlying table summarising the key spending categories appears to breach your commitment to API to supply accurate technical data (point I.d.).
API-IPA reminds the Commission that a functioning democracy depends on timely, reliable access to information. The repeated breaches of communication protocols risk undermining public trust and diminish the ability of the press to hold institutions accountable.
For further information, please contact:
API-IPA SecretariatPresident: Dafydd ab Iago
Email: president@api-ipa.org
