A thank you note for the Venice Commission!

The Albanian Media Council would like to thank the Venice Commission for the extraordinary assistance it has provided to the Albanian society, the media community and journalists, as well as the cause of freedom of speech, with its report on the so-called Anti-Defamation Package.

AMC notes with satisfaction that in its report, the Commission, besides confirming unequivocally the problems raised by AMC and the community of civil society, journalists and media, has managed to detect other major problems in this controversial law on freedom of speech and of information.

AMC is expecting the Albanian Government to properly analyze and read the document, in order to understand not only the deepproblems within this law, but also the fact that the report of the Venice Commission highlights other related issues, such as the independence and impartiality of the AMA, which requires political will from the side of the Government to solve.

AMC expects after this Report, the Albanian Government to finally abandon the plans to a further push for this project. AMC hopes the government will read correctly the conclusions of the Commission, which shows that the problems and damages of the law are much more serious than the benefits perceived by it.

Finally, AMC would like to congratulate and thank the member media of the Alliance for Ethical Media, the fellow journalists, the Albanian and foreign associations and organizations, and international partners who fought or systematically supported the resistance to this regressive law on freedom of speech and the media.

The elimination of this law is a stronger impetus on us to finalize the process of self-regulation launched at the beginning of the year with the support of the EU, which was halted briefly by the pandemic. The self-regulatory mechanisms of the Alliance for Ethical Media will be operational within September, bringing about a qualitative change in ethical reporting and opportunities for citizens to complain.