Les débordements du groupe I&D au Parlement européen : protestation de la presse internationale

(B2) L'association de la presse internationale (API ou IPA en anglais) a adressé jeudi (13 juin) au Parlement européen une lettre de protestation contre l'attitude du nouveau groupe nationaliste 'Identité & Démocratie' (dirigé par la Ligue du Nord et le Rassemblement national) qui a transformé le même jour la salle de presse en salle de meeting. En voici le texte (en anglais). Il intéresse tout le monde.

API-IPA strongly protests the way this morning’s press conference by the new political group ‘Identity and Demcracy’ was conducted. During that press conference in the EP press room, tens of supporters of this group – taking seats intended for journalists – on several occasions applauded the speakers at the podium.

This is in clear breach of the EP’s ‘Rules governing the proper use of the European Parliament’s Press Room’ (art 6). Colleagues who protested this behaviour were boo’ed and reprimanded by the president of the press conference.

API-IPA considers this totally unacceptable. As stated in the rules, press conferences are not political gatherings, and those present have to refrain from showing approval or disapproval by any means. This behaviour hinders the image and independence of our profession. If the European Parliament cannot guarantee that those who enter the press room respect our work, we must ask to limit access to press conferences to (accredited) journalists only.

By the way, it is not the first time we have problems with MEPs related to this group. We recall the recent incident where access to an Italian press conference (Salvini) was restricted to selected journalists, also in breach of the rules. The EP press rooms must remain accessible to ALL accredited journalists.

We ask you, and the Bureau of the European Parliament, to act to prevent these events from happening again.