BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union agreed Tuesday to supply emergency funds to assist maintain Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet, accusing it of selling a information agenda with a liberal bias.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty began broadcasting throughout the Chilly Battle. Its packages are aired in 27 languages in 23 international locations throughout Jap Europe, Central Asia and the Center East. Its attorneys have been preventing the administration in courtroom.
EU overseas coverage chief Kaja Kallas mentioned the bloc’s overseas ministers had agreed to a 5.5-million-euro ($6.2 million) contract to “support the vital work of Radio Free Europe.” The “short-term emergency funding” is a “safety net” for impartial journalism, she mentioned.
Kallas mentioned the EU wouldn’t be capable to fill the group’s funding hole around the globe, however that it may assist the broadcaster to “work and function in those countries that are in our neighborhood and that are very much dependent on news coming from outside.”
She mentioned that she hoped the 27 EU member international locations would additionally present extra funds to assist Radio Free Europe long run. Kallas mentioned the bloc has been in search of “strategic areas” the place it may assist as america cuts overseas support.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s company headquarters are in Washington and its journalistic headquarters are based mostly within the Czech Republic, which has been main the EU drive to seek out funds.
Final month, a U.S. federal decide ordered the Trump administration to revive $12 million that was appropriated by Congress. Attorneys for the service, which has been working for 75 years, mentioned it could be pressured to close down in June with out the cash.
In March, Kallas recalled the affect that the community had on her as she was rising up in Estonia, which was a part of the Soviet Union.
“Coming from the other side of the Iron Curtain, actually it was (from) the radio that we got a lot of information,” she mentioned. “So, it has been a beacon of democracy, very valuable in this regard.”
