SAR Europe welcomes the report by MEP Domènec Ruiz Devesa which considered the European Commission’s 2020 Rule of law Report.

Adopted with 509 votes in favour, 152 against, and 28 abstentions on Thursday, 24th June, 2021, the European Parliament welcomed the findings of the European Commission’s 2020 report but it called for the next report to be broader in scope, encompassing all EU values. In particular, the report observed that the challenges to media freedom are closely linked to the undermining of artistic freedom and academic freedom, and therefore it went on to explicitly call for the pillar dedicated to media pluralism to be expanded to include all aspects of freedom of expression, including academic freedom. (para. 26)

Read the text in full here.

Read the LIBE Committee’s press release here.

To learn more about why academic freedom should be an explicit consideration of the European Commission’s annual rule of law reporting cycle read our full submission paper here.