CoE Adopts a New Action Plan for the Republic of Moldova. What Are the Priorities in the Sphere of the Media?
The Council of Europe adopted a new action plan and supporting steps for the Republic of Moldova for 2025-2028. The plan with an estimated value of 30 million Euros involves providing assistance to our country in several spheres, including that of the media.
The new action plan adopted last week will “advance the compliance of national practices with European standards in the field of the media and internet,” according to the official CoE statement. In this regard, the safety of journalists, de-oligarchization of the media market, and expansion of transparency requirements regarding press ownership are among the institution’s essential priorities.
The other major objectives listed in the document stipulate promoting alignment of the national legislation, including the Audiovisual Code, with the requirements and directives of the European Union, as well as with the recommendations of the Venice Commission. Support for implementing the new legislation on access to information and online media regulation in the Republic of Moldova will also be provided.
The Teleradio-Moldova national public broadcaster will be supported in order to diversify its programs and content dedicated to human rights and social issues. The Center for Strategic Communication and Countering Disinformation will also benefit from assistance, together with the Broadcasting Council, to improve media literacy and society’s resilience to disinformation campaigns which have been a major challenge for the Republic of Moldova since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine broke out.
The action plan will also promote two new tools: the Recommendation on countering the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) and the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, “by focusing on raising awareness of these new instruments among national stakeholders in the Republic of Moldova.” “It will raise awareness of the use of artificial intelligence to counter disinformation. It will also support civil society organizations and major national media outlets to address disinformation challenges and narratives and increase media literacy among the population” the document also states.
This is the fourth Council of Europe action plan for the Republic of Moldova since 2013. As part of implementation of the previous document (2020-2024), the Council of Europe supported the process of drafting and adopting the new Law on Access to Information of Public Interest in 2023, in accordance with the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (the Tromsø Convention). Also last year, the Broadcasting Council adopted a methodology for assessing and countering hate speech in the media pursuant to the guidelines developed by the Council of Europe.
