Media Plurality: What Can the European Union Do?

This chapter provides insight into the approach of the European Union institutions to media plurality. These institutions have long been pressured by interest groups and the European Parliament (EP) to take action on threats to media pluralism and freedom at national levels (Harcourt, 1998; 2005; Harcourt and Picard 2009).1 However, the European Commission (EC) has been constrained by the lack of a Treaty basis for initiatives in this field. This chapter analyses recent EU action on media plurality, in particular the 2011 European Parliament’s Resolution on media law in Hungary (European Parliament, 2011a), the subsequent 2013 report of the High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism, and the European Commission’s response through its 2013 proposals and 2014 actions (European Commission, 2013a, 2103b; 2014). The conclusion is that the EC is reliant on soft governance measures because of a weak Treaty basis for a Directive and continued Member State opposition to EU level action on media plurality.