Source: European Parliament
Priority question for written answer P-002674/2025
to the Commission
Rule 144
Christine Anderson (ESN)
A recent Euractiv article (‘Money for nothing’, 30 June 2025[1]) reports that the Commission allocates approximately EUR 35 million annually to media outlets – far more than officially acknowledged. While presented as support for ‘media pluralism’, this funding raises concerns about distortion, particularly when substantial and recurring subsidies are injected into a limited pool of outlets within the EU-focused ‘Brussels media bubble’, which is structurally distinct from broader, national media markets. Unlike broader, national media markets, it can be easily skewed by large, recurring public subsidies – especially when the media outlets report on the very institutions that fund them, endangering independence and competition.
- 1.How does the Commission reconcile its claim of editorial independence for heavily subsidised media given that their viability, or even survival, depends on continued EU funding and does it acknowledge the risk of alignment with the funder’s priorities?
- 2.Does the Commission recognise that the Brussels media bubble – a small, highly concentrated, and commercially fragile media market – is uniquely vulnerable to a crowding out effect, whereby EU subsidies distort competition, deter private investment and entrench financial dependence?
- 3.How does the Commission justify its sustained involvement in the media sphere, particularly within the Brussels media bubble, when Article 11 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantees the right ‘to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority’?
Submitted: 1.7.2025
- [1] https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/money-for-nothing-commission-pours-millions-into-struggling-eu-media/.