2016 Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights

Media pluralism and democracy 
 17-18 November 2016, Brussels

On 17-18 November 2016  the second Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights will be held in Brussels.  The 2016 Colloquium on Fundamental Rights will focus on "Media pluralism and democracy".  First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Commissioner Günther Oettinger, and Commissioner Jourová will lead discussions with a wide range of experts on the key role in democratic societies of a free and pluralist media, and in particular digital media.

The Colloquium will bring together, in an interactive roundtable discussion, EU institutions and Member States, NGOs, journalists, media representatives, companies and key academics and international organisations to reflect on a wide range of topics. These include, among others:

• how to protect and promote media freedom and independence from state intervention and from undue political or commercial pressures;
• how to empower journalists and protect them from threats of physical violence or hate speech;
• the role of media and ethical journalism in promoting fundamental rights;
• how can a pluralistic media environment foster political debate on crucial issues for democratic societies.

Programme

View the programme(696 kB)

Participation

The Commission Colloquia take the form of a round table interactive discussion with a limited number of key stakeholders to ensure that the diversity of voices around the table can be heard and in order to allow for a lively debate and an open exchange of views. Given the format of the event, participation is by invitation only.

The event will be web streamed to enable all interested persons to follow the discussions live. Participation via Twitter will also be possible.

 Public consultation

A public consultation is now open to all until 21July 2016 (deadline extended) to gather input for the preparation of the discussions. Please use the following link to submit your contribution.

 Background on Commission Colloquia on Fundamental Rights

The Commission's Annual Colloquia on fundamental rights aim at improving mutual cooperation and a greater political engagement for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights in Europe. They offer a space for dialogue around fundamental rights issues where a variety of actors, including civil society and policy makers, can get together around the same table and discuss concrete and workable actions to improve the fundamental rights situation in the EU.

The Commission's first Annual Colloquium on fundamental rights took place in October 2015. It focussed on "Tolerance and respect: preventing and combating antisemitic and anti-Muslim hatred in Europe". It led to a concrete set of actions to encourage a culture of inclusive tolerance and respect in the European Union. Progress on the implementation of these actions will be reported in the 2015 Report on the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which the Commission will adopt on 19 May 2016.

Further information

Dedicated hashtag, web streaming and all relevant Colloquium documents will be published on the event's website. Watch this space!