The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) welcomes the new European Commission and looks forward to engaging in a constructive dialogue on EU policies for media and democracy, which promote democratic values and help the European media sector thrive.

Public service media are funded by the public and serve it without profit consideration. They promote social cohesion and cultural diversity, values which are deeply embedded in EU policies. We call on the new Commission to reinforce these values also in the online world by ensuring a fair environment for our sector and by improving the fight against hate speech, illegal content and disinformation. The online platforms’ responsibilities should be in line with their ability to influence public opinion and their potential to harm citizens.

We recently published our priorities in terms of EU policies for media and democracy and call on the institutions to:

• Defend media freedom and pluralism
• Secure a fair online platform environment
• Deliver the increased responsibility of online platform
• Ensure access to user data to support innovation
• Make competition policy fit for purpose in the global digital marketplace
• Support efficient and reliable distribution of our content
• Ensure public value content is easy to find and access
• Build trust through clear brand visibility
• Preserve the open internet
• Encourage efficient rights clearance for multi-platforms offers
• Accelerate European media innovation

These priorities aim to reinforce the role of media in the democratic process, delivering impartial information and quality content accessible to all citizens. We look forward to supporting related policy initiatives in the coming five years.