Any journalist in Brussels knows how free the Italian media is

THERE was more than a hint of the surreal about the debate on media freedom and Italy in the European Parliament during the week.

MEPs were being accused of straying into an area that is strictly under the control of the national governments by questioning whether the media in Italy was free.

Some stuck to their guns and pointed out that Italy is one of three countries in the EU whose media is judged to be just partially free by the respected international organisation, Freedom House. The fact that the other two countries are Romania and Bulgaria – considered by far the most corrupt in the union – gives an indication of the extent of the problem.

MEPs and member countries are always afraid of being accused of picking on individual countries. So once the accusation was made during the debate, everyone ran for cover.

They quickly retreated to a demand for legislation on media pluralism in the EU generally, pointing out that the treaties establishing the EU recognise that this isessential to protect democracy.

But those who demanded the issue be dropped were the European People’s Party to which Silvio Berlusconi’s People’s Freedom party belong.

Those demanding action belonged to more left wing parties – reflecting the kind of political divide in the Italian government.

Any journalist working in Brussels knows exactly how free the Italian media is and that to preserve their jobs there must be a degree of self-censorship among journalists. Then there is the pressure individual journalists come under when they write something their editors think might offend Silvio Berlusconi.

Many MEPs insisted that nothing should be done that would in any way refer to Italy on the basis that similar situations existed elsewhere, and went on to cite a worrying litany of countries where governments interfered directly with the way state-owned news agencies and channels were run or where major media were owned by leading political parties that in some cases was also the source of much of their funding.

The European Commission flatly refused to draw up legislation on media pluralism or freedom on the basis that they could only do so if it was to correct an attack on the single market.

It did not seem to matter that the 40% of the world’s population that live in countries where the media is considered to be partially free includes three EU countries – one being a founding member.

Shockingly, only 18% of the world’s population lives in countries where themedia is considered to be free and this number isdecreasing.

On the other hand given that huge sums of money have been pumped into the south of Italy and the difference between it and the north has in fact increased over the years has not led to demands for an investigation.

Perhaps the Italian Constitutional Court’s ruling that the prime minister cannot be immune from prosecution should be taken on board by the EU, and they should find out why Italy appears to have these problems.