Today the European Federation of Journalists(EFJ), the European group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), called for a broad support to Italian journalists in their opposition to the reform of the Criminal Code and their struggle for press freedom.

"The Italian Parliament is asked to vote a text that would restrict journalists' possibility to use or to refer to telephone tappings. This vote takes place at the time media and individual journalists are pushed to censorship by politicians. So, we can genuinely say that Italy's basic democratic values are currently at stake," said EFJ President Arne König. "Press freedom and the right to information need to be guaranteed in Italy".

The draft law increases the punishment for journalists and publishers who refer to tapped documents with penalties up to three years of prison and up to 465,000 EUR fines.
In addition to this draft law, media professionals are concerned about increasing attacks after scandals over the private life of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Media such as La Repubblica and the Spanish El Pais which published articles and pictures on this issue have been strongly attacked by Mr. Berlusconi. With the support of some of his ministers, Mr Berlusconi reportedly tried to block the circulation of newspapers and to censor television channels, which he claimed were "trash media".

The EFJ affiliate, the Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana (FNSI) and the publishers' association (FIEG) called on journalists to continue to work for an ethical and a free journalism. European journalists fully support this struggle for press freedom in Italy as the country risks to drift away from European standards of press freedom.
Messages of support and solidarity can be sent to: esteri.fnsi@fnsi.it