Belgium joins effort to save Radio Free Europe
Belgium is one of 10 countries backing a Czech initiative to save Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty after the United States cut funding for the radio station.
Along with Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden, Belgium is among the first countries to sign the initiative, the Czech Permanent Representation to the European Union announced on social media. More will follow, the Polish presidency of the Council of the EU said.
The fate of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was discussed at a meeting of European affairs ministers on Tuesday. The station was founded in the early years of the Cold War to spread democratic values to listeners in Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union.
Funded by the US Congress, the station has been based in Prague since the 1990s, where it has expanded its reach. It claims to reach almost 50 million people every week, from Russia to Iran and Afghanistan.
'Gift to adversaries'
Hundreds of staff at Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other US-funded organisations received an email last weekend saying they no longer had access to their offices. The White House said it was cutting the funding to stop taxpayer money going to "radical propaganda".
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty "continues to provide trusted, independent news to tens of millions of people in regions where press freedom is restricted or non-existent"
Ten European countries have now jointly pledged to fund the station, which "continues to provide trusted, independent news to tens of millions of people in regions where press freedom is restricted or non-existent", they said in a letter. Eliminating it "would be a gift to Europe's adversaries", said the countries, which also include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia.
On Monday, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, announced that the EU would examine whether it could secure funding for Radio Free Europe. According to La Matinale Européenne, the radio station has an annual budget of 150 million dollars.
© PHOTO MICHAL CIZEK / AFP
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