“When freedom of the press ends, so does democracy. We’ve seen this in the past,” said MEP Jaromír Štětina. The Czech member of the EPP group is a former journalist who lost his job during the Prague Spring back in 1968 when the Warsaw Pact armies invaded Czechoslovakia. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, we asked him about the importance of free media. Watch our video to find out what he had to say.

Štětina studied at the University of Economics, Prague, in 1961-1967. In 1968 he started working as a journalist for the newspaper Mladá Fronta. His work coincided with the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, during which the Soviet army seized control of Mladá Fronta. Štětina was subsequently fired due to his disagreement over the Warsaw Pact armies entering Czechoslovakia. During the next 20 years he was employed at the Geological Survey, of which eight years were spent working as a miner.

He returned to journalism in 1989 when he co-founded the journalists union and started working at the re-established newspaper Lidové Noviny. In 1990 Štětina started working as a foreign correspondent in Moscow, where he covered numerous conflicts in the former Soviet Union. He worked in Moscow until he was expelled from Russia as a persona non grata.

In 1992 he started the Lidové Noviny Foundation as well as the People in Need Foundation. During 1993-1994 he was editor-in-chief of the Lidové Noviny newspaper. In 1994 he founded the independent journalist agency Epicentrum, dedicated to war reporting.

He entered politics in 2004 when he became a senator in the Czech republic. He served in the Czech senate for 10 years until becoming an MEP in 2014.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Vice-President and myself, we are delighted to welcome Jüri and his government here today to lay the foundations for the first ever Estonian Presidency. It is a good moment in the Estonian history and it will be a good moment for the European Union.

I have my experiences with Presidencies. I had to chair the Council and the European Council five times in my life, and so I know that the Presidencies of smaller countries are by far more successful than those of big countries. And I am really impressed by the good preparation we have noted today of the Estonian government for this major task. 1,300 Estonian officials are involved in the Presidency. That is a huge number because that is 1% of the entire population of Estonia – and so I am sure that this Presidency will be a success.

Estonia is a country I like very much. I paid two official visits to Estonia: the first time I was there, Mart Laar was the Prime Minister. The second time I was there, Andrus was the Prime Minister. And what I do not like in Estonia is that the policy-makers are as young as they are. Mart Laar was young; Andrus – who is my good friend – is closer to me when it comes to this stupid comparison. And now Jüri is the youngest Prime Minister we have in Europe. He was born in ’78, and I got married in ’79. You do not remember it, but I remember it. So I am very happy to go back to Estonia by the end of June.

I like Estonia and the Prime Minster, because he is like his country: young, forward-looking, pro-European, digital, and ahead of his time. You have to prove it.

Estonia has great ambitions and rightly so. Estonia, in many respects, is an example for the other Member States of the European Union. And although Estonia only joined in 2004, Estonia is behaving like a founding member of the European Union, whereas some founding members are behaving like brand new members of the European Union. So we are looking to this Presidency with great hope and great expectation.

We have seen in our conversation today that the Estonian government – as far as its agenda and programme is concerned – is very much in line with the ideas and the initiatives of the Commission, is ready to deliver on the Working Programme the Commission, the Council and Parliament have concluded. And we would like Estonia to focus on digital, because Estonia has a real outstanding expertise when it comes to digital, and so we are in safe hands. The same applies to energy efficiency and renewable energy where Estonia too is a model for others.

I would leave it with Jüri to explain what he has in mind and then to Andrus to explain what we think about that.

Questions and Answers

Q1. Which one of these two do you think is the greater challenge for the Estonian Presidency: reforming the Common European Asylum System – in which we have not seen much progress in the past two Presidencies – or keeping the Brexit negotiations on track? How big do you think the Estonian influence will actually be?

President Juncker: I think that digital is the most important performance Estonia could give as a gift, knowing what is what, to the European Union. Brexit is an important issue, but we have a Chief Negotiator, so there will be no negotiations between the Presidency and the British in a direct, intimate way; this will be done by the Chief Negotiator. The second point you mentioned was the asylum reform – that is important.

Q2. To the Prime Minister: this morning, the Brexit Minister David Davies threatened – or suggested, maybe I should say – that he might walk out of negotiations. Will you be able to keep the EU 27 together and supporting the Chief Negotiator, Michel Barnier? President Juncker, yesterday Theresa May said: ”The next person to find out that I am a bloody difficult woman will be Jean-Claude Juncker”. I was wondering if you have any response to that sort of rhetoric.

President Juncker: I am not using this rhetoric, because in different translations it could mean different things. I deeply respect the British Prime Minister; I like her as a person. I have noted that she is a tough lady – so this is not for the future, this is a real-time description. And I do not think that David was right when he was threatening that he would be ready to go out. My experience in politics always was that those who were going out had to come back.

88% of respondents felt it important that the EU fund humanitarian aid activities and 90% said it was important that the EU help to coordinate the response to disasters in the EU through its civil protection role. Most EU citizens (56%) do not think their own country has sufficient means to deal with all major disasters on their own.

“The 2017 results show a continuing and overwhelming level of public support for EU action on humanitarian aid and civil protection. The European Union is a global humanitarian leader. When a disaster hits, there are no borders and the public support the EU helping in emergency response both at home and abroad. I am determined that the Commission will continue to deliver on this vote of confidence by European citizens”, said Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

Key results

• Humanitarian Aid: 88% of respondents felt it important that the EU fund humanitarian aid activities. Asked about the current pressure on Europe’s public finances, 84% supported the continued funding of EU humanitarian aid (a similar result to 2015), and 66% felt the humanitarian aid was more efficient provided by the EU than by individual countries. An overwhelming majority (91%) also believe that EU should fund education for children and young people caught up in crises, and 86% support the sending of EU volunteers abroad.

• Civil Protection: 90% of Europeans said it was important that the EU help to coordinate the response to disasters in the EU through its civil protection role and 80% feel that if the emergency were to occur in their country, they would expect another EU country to help. 86% also believe that the EU should help any country in the world hit by disasters by sending experts and equipment. A large majority (87%) also believes that there should be an EU civil protection policy, as crises can have an impact across borders, and 81% think that a coordinated EU action in dealing with disasters is more effective than actions by individual countries – a stable result since 2015.

• Prevention and preparedness for disasters: almost half of Europeans (49%) do not think that enough is being done at a regional level or within their own countries to prevent or prepare for emergencies.
• Public awareness: EU citizens also show a high level (71%) of awareness of EU humanitarian aid activities and significant awareness (55%) about EU’s coordination role in response to disasters in the EU.

Background:

The EU as a whole — the European Commission together with the Member States — is the world’s largest humanitarian aid donor. The European Commission provides life-saving assistance around the world. This assistance is carried out in partnership with UN agencies, NGOs and international organisations such as the Red Cross.

In addition, the EU helps to coordinate the response to disasters. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism facilitates cooperation in disaster response, preparedness, and prevention among 34 European states (EU-28 plus Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey). With the support of the Commission, the participating states pool the resources that can be made available to disaster-stricken countries all over the world. When activated, the Mechanism coordinates the provision of assistance.

The special Eurobarometer surveys on humanitarian aid and civil protection (reports 453 and 454) were carried out in the 28 EU Member States between the 26 November and 5 December 2016. Some 27 929 respondents were interviewed face-to-face.

For more information:

Report/Summary/Country Factsheets for 2017 Eurobarometer on humanitarian aid

ECHO Factsheet – humanitarian aid

Report/Summary/Country Factsheets for 2017 Eurobarometer on civil protection

ECHO Factsheet – civil protection