Tirana, 10 November 2022 (MIA) – Freedom of speech, freedom of the media and pluralism are crucial to any democratic society and must be guaranteed. Democracies cannot survive without free media, which today face great challenges – disinformation, fake news, digital transformation, recovery in the post-Covid period. Freedom of the media in the region of the Western Balkans has limited progress and a lot of work needs to be done here, it was pointed out at the EU-Western Balkans Media Conference, which is being held on Thursday and Friday in Tirana, MIA reports. The Head of the EU Delegation to Albania, Christiane Hohmann, at the opening of the conference said that freedom of the media is in the first cluster in the negotiations with the EU - Fundamentals, and this, as she says, means that democratic societies cannot survive without freedom of the media. - The 19th of July was a historic day for North Macedonia and Albania, these two countries took a decisive step forward that will advance the entire accession process. This process should involve all social actors, and here the media plays a key role, Hohmann said. She pointed out that the challenges facing the media today are huge, including the media war after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and in dealing with them the freedom of the media must be guaranteed, which, she said, is a difficult and painstaking profession. Hohmann emphasized that the media as a whole reflects a pluralistic democratic society. The acting director for the Western Balkans in the General Directorate for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations in the European Commission, Michela Matuella, said that the enlargement policy has a new momentum, and that is the new geopolitical context in which Europe finds itself. She referred to the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the region last month, reminding that a strong message of encouragement was sent to the Western Balkans to continue the path of reforms and that the region is not left alone in dealing with the economic and energy crisis. Matuella also announced that the EU-Western Balkans Summit, held in Tirana in December, will be another important message that will be sent to the region. - Freedom of expression is part of the Fundamentals cluster. In the EC reports on the progress of the region, it was noted that there is limited progress in media freedom in the Western Balkans. You have many challenges ahead of you – such as political interference in the media, physical attacks on journalists, the conditions in which journalists work are also of great importance. Overcoming these challenges should be a joint effort of the authorities and all social actors, said Matuella. The European Commission, she added, starting from the fact that freedom of the media is essential, provides financial assistance to the media in dealing with challenges, such as disinformation and foreign interference, which can be a serious threat to democracies. Before the official opening of the conference, the Adviser in the Directorate of Extension for Civil Society and Media, Andreas Kesteris, presented the new programs to support the media in the Western Balkans. At the "Thinking Together" workshop within the framework of the conference, it was pointed out that the media were very affected in the Covid crisis and are still trying to survive, many journalists were fired from their jobs, some media outlets were closed, and the Covid crisis as well as the post-Covid period intensified the migration to online media, with the majority of advertisements, as indicated, going from television to online media. Within the framework of the conference, several panel discussions will be held on information manipulation and foreign interference, on digital transformation of the media, on building societies resistant to misinformation and protecting democracies. Awards for investigative journalism in the Western Balkans will also be awarded at the conference. The European Commission currently has financial assistance in regional programs in the Western Balkans in the amount of EUR 31.6 million, which include support for media freedom, building trust in the media, strengthening legal expertise on freedom of expression and media... The support for North Macedonia amounts to EUR 400,000. dk/ba/