Albania’s adoption of controversial ‘anti-defamation’ media legislation flies in the face of its commitment to European Union values and reflects the Socialist Party government’s tightening grip on freedom of expression, media experts warn.
The government of Prime Minister Edi Rama says the package of laws, approved by parliament on December 19, is designed to protect individuals from unfounded online attacks, but rights groups and media experts say it will gift authorities far-reaching powers to censor online media.
Rama was unmoved by warnings from the European Commission – the executive arm of the EU, which Albania wants to join – as well as local and international media watchdogs and protesting journalists, telling parliament:
“The anti-defamation [package] is a necessity to protect individual rights and the ability to respond legally against public attacks on personal dignity or blackmail due to public service and entrepreneurship in the market, without breaching freedom of expression and the pluralism of sources of information.”
“I have had talks with the European Union and the Council of Europe,” he said, “and have told them, ‘You have not read the law you are talking about.’”
Rama’s critics, however, say such disregard for the complaints casts fresh doubt over his government’s democratic credentials. It also stands in stark contrast to his government’s stated aim of clinching accession talks with the EU – refused by the bloc in October – and the undented popularity of the bloc among Albanians for the past two decades.
The laws create a Complaints Commission within the Albania Media Authority with the power to review the content of online media outlets and levy heavy fines in the event that online media refuse to remove content that the commission deems questionable. Its adoption follows years of increasingly bitter complaints from Rama over media coverage of his Socialists, in power since 2013.
