The European General Court dismissed on Wednesday (27 July) the request for annulment of sanctions on Russia Today (RT) France, which was banned following the Russian aggression on Ukraine.
One week after the outbreak of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, EU countries adopted economic sanctions against Russia Today and Sputnik, two news outlets controlled by Moscow and accused of spreading war propaganda to undermine the Western reaction.
While EU officials did not define the measure as a ban, since the Russian journalists were still allowed to work in European territory, they are not allowed to publish their work.
The decision was contested before the EU Court of Justice by RT France, one of the European branches of the media network, arguing that the sanctions in question violated their rights of defence, freedom of expression, the right to conduct a business and the principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of nationality.
RT France contested that the EU Council, the institution that represents the member states, even has the competence to adopt such legal acts, as media regulation is in the hands of an independent authority precisely to avoid politicising such matters.
EU rolls out new sanctions banning RT and Sputnik
The EU has imposed economic sanctions on Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik for what officials describe as their “essential and instrumental” role in bringing aggression towards Ukraine and destabilising neighbouring countries.
The judgment, announced on Wednesday (27 July), recognises that the EU Council has significant discretion in the context of the common foreign and security policy.
The court found that the decision was, in this case, justified, since Russia violated international law by attacking Ukraine and the media outlets in question were deemed to support the Russian aggression.
As such, the fact that the French media authority Arcom did not act against the Russian broadcaster did not prevent the EU Council from adopting the restrictive measures in question. Quite the contrary: the rolling out of the ban simultaneously on the entire RT group gave even more reason for the action to be undertaken at the EU level.
Moreover, the court found that the extreme urgency of the circumstances meant that the EU Council did not violate RT’s right to be heard. Similarly, the exceptional circumstances also justified the temporary curtailing of freedom of expression without endangering the principle.
In particular, the court based its considerations on two legitimate objectives pursued by the EU leaders: protecting the bloc’s order and security from systemic propaganda and putting pressure on Russian authorities to cease the hostilities against Ukraine.
Today's ruling recognises that EU’s restrictive measures are proportionate and follow an objective of general interest. This objective is twofold: protecting the ??, which is threatened by ?? propaganda, and exerting pressure on ?? to end the war. https://t.co/EXdEbpzPXl
— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) July 27, 2022
The judges pointed out that RT France failed to demonstrate a balanced treatment of the war coverage but contributed to a destabilisation policy against Ukraine before the attack and justified the military aggression, thereby undermining Europe’s security.
The measures were, therefore, considered proportionate and did not violate RT France’s right to conduct business since they are temporary and reversible. The TV channel announced it would appeal the decision.
Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov defined the reaction to the ban as ‘extremely negative’ a promised retaliation against European media operating in Russia.
While the sanctions against the media outlets remain in place, disinformation experts have contested their effectiveness.
Kremlin-backed media evading EU sanctions, report finds
Russian state media content is still being spread on social media, despite sanctions introduced by the EU in March, according to a new report.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
