The judgment of Luxembourg: a way of intimidating the press. A call from the AJE
(B2) The judgment rendered on complaint by the firm Price Waterhouse Coopers, by the District Court of Luxembourg, on June 29, the day of the European summit is quite mind-blowing. He made us react to the Association of European Journalists (French section). Beyond the legal argument, this is a real and unequal threat hanging over European journalism.
It is therefore an appeal that the AJE launches to the European institutions. Show courage, consistency and lucidity. Propose, adopt legislation on whistleblowers, as you have proposed on business secrecy. We also ask the organizers of the Charlemagne Prize to be a little bold and award their next prize to the protagonists of this affair. They deserved it. With the Luxleaks, they will have considerably advanced the fight against tax evasion (or rather tax optimization...).
The judgment handed down this week in Luxembourg, condemning Antoine Deltour and Raphaël Halet in the LuxLeaks affair, is of great concern to the journalists of the AJE. Beyond the legal argument, this is a very negative symbol sent by Luxembourg and the European Union. Bankers are free. Whistleblowers are doomed. Freedom of the press gives way to freedom of business. Europe has wavering values.
This conviction now poses a threat to all journalists and to European journalism as a whole. This is, moreover, the precise objective of such procedures. It is not a question of obtaining reparation for damage but rather of intimidating, of reducing to nothing any spirit of information. What media is going to embark on a delicate investigation today if it knows that it can be condemned tomorrow by a court? How dare 'sources' take the risk of communicating important information if they know that they could be condemned criminally and/or civilly? How can we defend a journalism, independent, without sources of information? Without sources, journalism is a decoy. It's just an instrument for reproducing press releases like in any authoritarian regime.
The question is not whether the Luxembourg legislation is adapted or not. The question is European. The AJE therefore launches an appeal to the European institutions, to Jean-Claude Juncker the President of the European Commission, to Martin Schulz and to the European parliamentarians, to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council. You wanted to protect the trade secret, for legitimate reasons. Protecting freedom of the press and sources of information is at least as legitimate, if not more so. The AJE calls for new legislation that allows the protection of whistleblowers, the protection of sources of information throughout Europe. We must not delay today. It is about democratic control. Europe is not just a simple market, in the hands of economic interests. It has to be demonstrated. It must be a democratic space where the values of freedom and information are protected. The individual interest should not prevail over the general interest.
AJE-France is also launching an appeal to organizations in the Charlemagne Prize so that they think about awarding Antoine Deltour, Raphaël Halet, Edouard Perrin and all the other whistleblowers the Charlemagne prize next year. They acted for the good of Europe. They have fostered an awareness like the Pope, this year, received this award for having fostered an awareness of the right of asylum. That would be right. It would be fair.
(NGV)
