EU to allocate €5.5 million in emergency aid for Radio Liberty - Kallas
The European Union has agreed to allocate 5.5 million euros for urgent assistance to the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty media corporation after the US canceled funding.
This was announced by the head of the EU foreign policy department, Kaja Kallas, Censor.NET reports with reference to Radio Liberty.
According to her, the foreign ministers of the European Union member states agreed on this package "to support the vital work" Radio Liberty.
Kallas emphasized that the EU will not be able to fill the organization's funding gap worldwide, but it can help the broadcaster "to work and function in those countries that are located in the neighborhood and are very dependent on news coming from outside."
"It is obvious to us that in this situation we should focus on helping Radio Liberty to function in the neighboring region - the Caucasus, Central Asia, etc. This money is only a temporary help now. Long-term funding still needs to be addressed. In addition, the discussions in the EU related to the reduction of US funding have been that we need to be strategic - where we need to step in to fill the void. And this means looking for ways to help free media in general," said the head of European diplomacy.
Radio Liberty President Steve Capus expressed his gratitude to the EU for the assistance.
"We are grateful for the emergency funding to help save Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Thanks to the principled leadership of European Commission Vice President Kallas, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, and others, we can keep Radio Liberty's operations going for some time to come as we continue our legal fight in the United States for the funds allocated by Congress. The survival of Radio Liberty remains in jeopardy as long as these funds are delayed," Kapus said.
What happened before?
In February, it was reported that Elon Musk, an American billionaire and special civil servant of the US Presidential Administration, wanted to close down the US state media outlets Radio Liberty and Voice of America.
As a reminder, on the morning of Saturday, March 15, Voice of America staff in the United States received an email from the HR department informing them that they had been placed on paid administrative leave.
Earlier, it was reported that the US leader, Donald Trump, signed a decree that provides for the reduction of 7 federal agencies. This is part of the "reduction of federal bureaucracy".
