Last July, the International Press Association (API-IPA), representing the foreign correspondents in Brussels vis à vis the EU institutions, learned that the Belgian authorities planned to start charging initially € 50 every six months to journalists seeking EU summit accreditation, for their security screening. Recently, we learned that the € 50 fee will now be asked per year and not per semester.
API – together with the Belgian journalist associations VVJ and AJP – sent a letter to prime minister Charles Michel and his ministers in charge, calling them to drop the measures.
The Belgian government said it would address the concerns of journalists to the National Security Authority (NSA), the body in charge of security screenings.
Almost two months later, and just weeks ahead of the next EU summit in Brussels, we are still waiting for a clear answer from Belgian authorities.
We cannot accept that journalists will come to the summit not knowing whether they will be charged for doing their job, nor how their personal data will be used by the Belgian authorities.
API still considers that the charge, which was put into law by the Belgian parliament early this year and was introduced without any warning or consultation, is an unnecessary obstacle to the work of journalists and will restrict media access to events of great public interest.
API also still considers this fee discriminatory in three ways:
- First, because it will apply only to journalists who reside in Belgium and not to journalists coming from other countries.
- Second, because free lancers – who represent a large part of the correspondents in Brussels – will have to pay the fee themselves, while employees from media organisations will be able to have the expense covered by their employers.
- Third, because especially smaller media organisations will suffer from such a cost, and because of this they may be less in a position to cover EU summits in an appropriate professional way.
“We demand that the NSA reassesses the implementation of the law and takes into account its impact on the working conditions of journalists, especially freelancers”, said API president Tom Weingaertner. ,,But it is also a political decision. We call on the government of Charles Michel to take its responsibility and ensure that press freedom is fully respected at EU summits in Belgium.”
Only a general and legally sound exception for the press could ease the ‘malaise’ of the Brussels-based media.
In the absence of clear answer from Belgian authorities, API is more willing than ever to consider filing a complaint against Belgium with the European Commission for discrimination and violation of press freedom.
