What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Changed:28. Stresses the importance of the editorial independence of public service media and the duty of all Member States to respect this; stresses the need to establish safeguards against internal and external interferences; considers that public service media should be shielded against political pressures, including undue dismissals, and that safeguards should be put in place to guarantee that editorial decisions can be taken freely; notes that the Commission finds that Luxembourg, Slovenia, Germany, Estonia, Slovakia and Czechia have taken initiatives to strengthen the legal safeguards or budgetary means to improve the independence of national public service broadcasters, with Cyprus, Ireland and Sweden also discussing reforms, and an absence of measures to that effect in Romania, Malta, PolandMalta and Hungary; notes the efforts by the new Polish Government to restore the independence of the public broadcaster; notes that the most recent Media Pluralism Monitor rated the risk to editorial autonomy and political independence in Malta as ‘high’, and re-evaluated the overall risk to media pluralism in Malta, changing it from ‘medium’ to ‘high’;

Changed:34. Calls on the Greek Government to address the serious challenges identified by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), an alliance that tracks, monitors and reacts to violations of press and media freedom, in particular related to arbitrary surveillance, impunity or crimes against journalists, SLAPPs, media independence and pluralism; welcomes the creation of a task force on the ‘protection, safety and empowerment of journalists and other media professionals’, with the aim of strengthening the safety and independence of journalists and other media professionals, raising awareness, as well as monitoring the safety of journalists which the task force has initiated in line with Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/1534 of 16 September 2021 on ensuring the protection, safety and empowerment of journalists and other media professionals in the European Union; notes with great concern the recent detention of a reporter by the French authorities, apparently for the purpose of uncovering her sources, as well as the illegal wiretapping of a Dutch journalist working for ‘De Correspondent’;

Changed:36. Condemns the illegal surveillance of journalists, in particular by means of spyware; is dismayed at the Commission’s refusal to implement all the recommendations of the Pegasus Special Inquiry Committee and considers it a failure to act; reiterates its call on the Commission to assess the fulfilment of the specific conditions for Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Poland and Spain set out in the Recommendation, the deadline for which was 30 November 2023; welcomes the creation of the special inquiry committee with investigative powers in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament; calls for a thorough investigation of alleged severe violations of national and EU laws related to unlawful surveillance for political purposes by the Law and Justice-led government; is alarmed that the alleged list of victims is very long and includes multiple politicians, lawyers, prosecutors, journalists, business people, activists and other persons; points out that in none of the many cases of abuse of spyware against journalists, activists, politicians, lawyers and other political targets, has justice been served; concludes therefore that, contrary to the Commission’s assumption, many national authorities are neither willing nor able to address the matter, leaving the victims without effective remedy and democracy unprotected; is deeply concerned at the chilling effect of the impunity of spyware abuse on journalists and their sources; underlines that the illegitimate use of spyware by national governments directly and indirectly affects the integrity of decision-making, thereby undermining European Union democracy and highlighting the urgency for the greater transparency and legal accountability of the surveillance industry;

Changed:45. Recalls that, within the scope of application of the Treaties, any discrimination on the grounds of nationality is prohibited in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights,Charter, and that freedom of establishment, service provision and movement of capital are fundamental to the single market; underlines that the rules regarding equality of treatment forbid overt and covert discrimination by reason of nationality or, in the case of a company, its seat; underlines that the proper implementation of competition and public procurement rules is also in the interest of Hungarian companies;

Changed:47. Acknowledges the crucial role civil society and a healthy civic space play in upholding and protecting the rule of law, and reiterates its call for a separate chapter to be dedicated to the condition of civil society in Member States; notes that the Commission finds that Malta, Ireland, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Germany have announced or initiated efforts to improve the framework for civil society, and finds that civil society faces particular challenges in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Italy and France, and continued authoritarian and serious systemic restrictions in Hungary and Poland;Poland under its former Law and Justice-led government; calls on all Member States to accept civil society organisations (CSOs) as important stakeholders in democratic life and to create an enabling environment for civil society;

Changed:67. Reaffirms that women’s rights are human rights and that nothing can justify a regression in women’s rights and autonomy; condemns in particular the attack on the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls taking place in several Member States; believes that the right to safe and legal abortion should be anchored in the Charter of Fundamental Rights;Charter;

Added:72. Welcomes the fact that, on 15 February 2024, Greece became the 16th Member State to legislate marriage equality with the passing of a landmark bill by the Greek Parliament legalising same-sex marriage and granting full parental rights to same-sex couples;

Changed:95.96. Calls on the Commission to include, strictly monitor and safeguard the DRF conditions in all budgetary instruments and processes; reaffirms its serious concerns about the Commission decision considering that the horizontal enabling condition of the Charter had been fulfilled in relation to judicial independence, thus enabling the Hungarian authorities to submit reimbursement claims of up to EUR 10.210,2 billion, even though even following the recent reforms, Hungary does not meet the standard of judicial independence set out in the Charter; calls on the Commission and the Council to apply the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation further and without delay where needed, and not to lift the measures adopted in the case of Hungary until all the preconditions and milestones have been effectively fulfilled; calls on the Commission to rigorously verify that the rule of law related milestones in the various Member State recovery and resilience plans are fulfilled as a condition for disbursing funding when Member States make payment requests; calls on the Commission to assign the primary responsibility for the application of these conditions to the Commissioners responsible for the rule of law;