ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

"Strasbourg Calling" Austrian journalist Brigitte Rambossek: The fight for media freedom is a fight for democracy

Journalist Mindaugas Laukagalis of Lithuania: We see a quite fragmented European Parliament at the moment

Author:
Mindaugas Laukagalis, Angelina Piskova, Irina Nedeva, Brigitte Rambusek (from left to right)
Photo: Rositsa Petkova

"There was definitely more tension in this session of the European Parliament." This was commented by Angelina Piskova, BNR correspondent for the European institutions during a journalist round table in the programme "Strasbourg Calling" broadcast live from the European Parliament with host Irina Nedeva.

"If we've been swimming in relatively calm waters until now, they're not so calm anymore. I wouldn't say it's so dangerous that you'll drown, but you definitely have to be more careful. It's somehow more restless. I assume it'll be the same with the next parliament," said Angelina Piskova.

"I think we saw in Monday's debate regarding the vote of no confidence in the European Commission that there is a lot of anger between the different parliamentary groups and the result of the European Parliament elections last year made this parliament more fragmented," young Lithuanian journalist Mindaugas Laukagalis currently working for the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT in Brussels told the BNR.

"Regarding the European Media Freedom Act, we are currently living in an age of great uncertainty and instability in all our countries," emphasized Brigitte Rambossek, a long-time journalist in the Austrian Public Radio ORF, currently Vice-President of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ). Since Austria's accession to the European Union in 1995, Brigitte Rambossek has been involved in European policies:

"The media has a crucial role in all of this and I like to say that the fight for media freedom is a fight for democracy. We, at the Association of European Journalists, have been fighting for this since 1962, when our organization was founded in San Remo, Italy. We are now 17 countries, not only EU members. It is really interesting for me to work with colleagues like all of them."
Brigitte Rambossek has been involved in an initiative called "Europa Cafe" aimed at bringing the citizens of Vienna closer to EU concepts and ideas:

"We have been part of the European Union for 30 years and the euro was introduced in Austria on 1 January 2002. We were 12 countries at that time, now with Bulgaria we are 21. My experience about how to tell about the European Union, how to inform, It's rather complicated because it is a complex system. During the meetings of the Europa Cafe I always started with the sentence: The European Union is not far away, it's not Brussels. It is just a few steps to the next ministry because every minister is taking part in decisions."

Ten years ago, Lithuania joined the Eurozone. Was there opposition to the adoption of the euro?

"Ten years ago when Lithuania was just about to adopt the euro, we didn't see such processes as are now happening in Bulgaria, protests ans so on. Both the leading and the opposition parties were in principle for adopting the euro. There were of course discussions, people were afraid that prices would increase and we could see that in some sectors, but in general people were excited and now people see the euro as a very good thing for Lithuania", said Lithuanian journalist Mindaugas Laukagalis.

Read more:



English publication: Rositsa Petkova

Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.
Radio Bulgaria Politics    Austrian journalist Brigitte Rambossek Brigitte Rambossek European Parliament Mindaugas Laukagalis

More from category

Balkan developments

Euro-subsidies scandal rocks Greece The Greek government has announced it will close down the Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE), the organization handling the payment of the EU's Common Agricultural..

published on 5/30/25 2:53 PM
Dzhevdet Chakarov (L) and Delyan Peevski

Delyan Peevski: DPS is closing the rift

Delian Peevski, leader of the DPS–New Beginning party, met with Dzhevdet Chakarov, chairman of the Democracy, Rights and Freedoms parliamentary group DPS–DPS (aligned with Ahmed Dogan) . During an in-depth discussion, the two agreed that “the page of..

published on 5/27/25 2:42 PM
MEP Virginijus Sinkevičius

"Strasbourg Calling" MEP Virginijus Sinkevičius: The Green Deal will survive, though rebranded

Will the Green Deal survive, or is it already losing momentum? Is there a risk that Europe will be left alone in its fight for green policies? The Green Deal will survive, though it may be rebranded, believes Virginijus Sinkevičius, former EU..

published on 5/22/25 3:35 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Partly Cloudy
Min: 14 | Max: 34
Partly Cloudy
Min: 19 | Max: 31
Partly Cloudy
Min: 19 | Max: 29
Clear
Min: 12 | Max: 36
Partly Cloudy
Min: 18 | Max: 35
Clear
Min: 17 | Max: 35
Clear
Min: 18 | Max: 34
Clear
Min: 13 | Max: 35
Clear
Min: 16 | Max: 37
Partly Cloudy
Min: 12 | Max: 33
Partly Cloudy
Min: 16 | Max: 35
Clear
Min: 16 | Max: 36
Clear
Min: 14 | Max: 35
Partly Cloudy
Min: 10 | Max: 31
Clear
Min: 18 | Max: 36
Clear
Min: 16 | Max: 36
Clear
Min: 18 | Max: 34
Clear
Min: 17 | Max: 35
Clear
Min: 19 | Max: 36
Clear
Min: 18 | Max: 34
Partly Cloudy
Min: 15 | Max: 27
Partly Cloudy
Min: 16 | Max: 32
Clear
Min: 14 | Max: 36
Clear
Min: 16 | Max: 33
Clear
Min: 16 | Max: 36
Clear
Min: 14 | Max: 33
Clear
Min: 16 | Max: 34
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"