The case of the SLAPP against Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel
18.11.2021
Question for written answer E-005191/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Stelios Kouloglou (The Left), Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left), Tineke Strik (Verts/ALE), Massimiliano Smeriglio (S&D), Irena Joveva (Renew), Sophia in 't Veld (Renew)
Ingeborg Beugel, a Dutch journalist based in Greece, is being targeted by a systematic defamation campaign on social media and in the government-friendly press after a pointed question she posed to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis regarding the pushbacks against migrants allegedly carried out by the Hellenic Coast Guard[1]. This defamation campaign has led to her being assaulted in the street. Furthermore, the mayor of the Greek island of Hydra, who is close to the governing party New Democracy, filed a lawsuit against Ingeborg Beugel the day after she commented on the local election results in Hydra – where Beugel also lives[2].
Keeping in mind that SLAPPs are being used all the more often against journalists in the EU and that Parliament recently voted in favour of a stricter legal framework to protect journalism and the freedom of speech:
What will the Commission do to protect journalists and the freedom of speech until the upcoming anti-SLAPP directive is implemented by the Member States?