The European Federation of Journalists warns that most EU countries are falling short of enforcing the law while the number of attacks on journalists is growing daily.
The European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) marks its first anniversary as courts reassess the killings of journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak. The law became applicable on 8 August 2025 with the goal to protect journalists and media organisations. It was also to establish safeguards against surveillance and spyware, protect public media from political control, and prevent media concentration. Member states need to apply such rules and ensure compliance of national laws.
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) called the regulation a “broken promises to journalists“, with only four member states following it. For EFJ director Renate Schroeder, although the rules are important, “The language is generic, and not the most ambitious,” she told EU Perspectives.
Spyware remains Europe’s blind spot
Article 4 of the EMFA sets protections for journalistic sources and confidential communications, like the use of spyware against journalists. The European Union has been dealing with a series of scandals. Pegasus, Predator and Graphite are some of the infamous spying tools. “The spyware cases we know of are of great concern. But there are probably many, many more we don’t know,” Ms Schroeder said.
Pegasus had been sold to 22 users and 14 EU member states, including Poland, Hungary, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. At the time, Parliament said illegitimate use had been found at least in Poland, Hungary, Greece and Spain, with suspicions over Cyprus.
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Meanwhile, new tools continue to emerge. Last year WhatsApp notified around 90 accounts targeted with Graphite, including journalists. Citizen Lab confirmed the targeting of Italian journalist Ciro Pellegrino. Another new revelation came in July, when a Greek journalist and former MEP Stelios Kouloglou found out he had been attacked with Pegasus.
Ms Schroeder warned that governments may use arguments over national security exemptions to the use of resources. “We know that member states, especially now, will try to get national security exemptions into it.” She pointed to the case of French investigative journalist Ariane Lavrilleux. She was detained and her home searched after reporting on a French military operation in Egypt. The investigation, launched following complaints by the Ministry of Armed Forces over alleged disclosure of national secrets, was reopened in July.
The concern extends to other forms of surveillance. Asked whether Chat Control raised similar concerns for journalistic confidentiality, Ms Schroeder said: “Absolutely”, describing it as “very worrying”.
Public media under pressure
Article 5 of the EMFA requires member states to guarantee the independent function of state media. “The worst thing for me is that on public service media, many member states are doing the opposite of what they are supposed to,” Ms Schroeder told us, pointing to the examples of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy and France.
In Italy, political interference in RAI—Italy’s national public broadcasting company—is one of the most concerning in the union. The 2026 Media Freedom Rapid Response mission to the country said its media models fail to comply with the EMFA. It registered 118 press freedom violations last year, while the severity of the claims reflected acts like the attempted assassination of the journalist Sigfrido Ranucci.
Ms Schroeder is also worried about Germany. In the autums fall election, the far-right party AfD could gain enough influence in Saxony-Anhalt, and its programme includes to defund its public media. Besides, Portugal is struggling. The Journalists’ Union filed a complaint with the European Commission over new statutes for Lusa, the public news agency. The complaint is about allowing the government to directly appoint Lusa’s board and introducing an oversight body dominated by political appointees. For the union, these risks breaching EMFA protections.
51 unresolved murders
In Malta, businessman Yorgen Fenech went on trial in July 2026, accused of complicity in Caruana Galizia’s murder (he has denied the allegations). The journalist was killed by a car bomb in October 2017. In Slovakia, the journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová were shot dead in their home. The retrial of businessman Marián Kočner and Alena Zsuzsová began in January. For Ms Schroeder, securing accountability at the highest level remains one of the hardest parts of such cases. “The problem always is to really get to the masterminds behind them,” she said. In all, 51 cases of killings of journalists remained unresolved by the end of 2025.
We are in a trend of democratic backsliding. — Renate Schroeder, European Federation of Journalists
Last year, In Greece, an explosive device was also found outside the home of journalist Yannis Pretenteris. The case happened four years after the murder of reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, which remains unresolved.
According to the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform, serious press-freedom alerts rose by 29 per cent in 2025. Of 344 alerts, 90 involved attacks on journalists’ physical integrity. Ms Schroeder said the EFJ’s own monitoring shows intimidation is growing day by day. “We are in a trend of democratic backsliding,” she told us.
What price ignoring the law?
Last December, the Commission opened an infringement procedure against Hungary. It argued the country failed to comply with several EMFA provisions. Brussels also sent letters to 17 countries concerning the application of the regulation. Slovakia was subject to a pre-infringement dialogue.
Ms Schroeder wants Brussels to be more forceful. “We really feel we need a loud voice from the European Commission,” she said, arguing that enforcement should be based on media-freedom principles rather than different political or geopolitical considerations between member states.
On the positive side, the Netherlands and Croatia give reasons for optimism. Croatia boasts a good awareness level of the EMFA among journalists and unions. The Netherlands has PersVeilig, a safety mechanism that provides journalists with training and support when they face threats or intimidation.
