The European Parliament overwhelmingly approved the directive on Tuesday night, which protects journalists and civil society activists from abusive cases aimed at stifling freedom of speech.
The EP’s decision marks the successful end of six years of attempts to push through this legislation.
The directive, approved in plenary on Tuesday (27 February), sets a minimum standard for protecting media and assets from strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) across the EU.
The final legal text includes provisions for early termination of cases that are clearly without merit. Defines what constitutes a “cross-border” SLAPP case and provides for damages for media/activists.
The EU institutions reached a political agreement on the directive in November.
“Despite the strong differences between the position of the EU Council and the Parliament, we have managed to ensure that this directive will go beyond simple procedural aspects and reflect the wider impact of the context in these cases,” said the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the directive, Social Democrat Timo Völken.
The anti-slap suit directive is also known as Daphne’s Law. The initiative was launched because of dozens of SLAPP lawsuits filed against Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Galizia before she was murdered in 2017. She faced more than 40 lawsuits during her lifetime.
For the past six years, the foundation set up in her name has campaigned for better protection for journalists facing lawsuits brought to squeeze and drain funding from free media.
Although comprehensive EU-wide data on SLAPP cases does not exist, the CASE group’s research identified Malta, France, Croatia, Greece and Slovenia as the countries with high numbers of such lawsuits.
The onus is now on member states to build on the EU directive and the forthcoming Council of Europe recommendation to draft effective national legislation.
EU countries will have until 2026 to implement the directive.
The Bulgarian Ministry of Justice has also started the preparation of a bill to protect against slapping cases after the filing of the record claim for 1,000,000 BGN by “Lev ins” against Mediapool.
The insurance company filed the lawsuit after Mediapool quoted the finance minister about the debt problems of Bulgarian Green Card insurance companies. “Lev Ins” lost the case at first instance.
