The Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists expresses great concern over the recent firearm attack on the well-known Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries, who has been known in his career as a journalist who wrote about many high-profile crime cases.
This is a very severe blow to press freedom in the Netherlands, and thus in the European Union. The Netherlands is thus becoming life-threatening for people working as journalists. We believe that the non-European policy of Prime Minister Mark Rutte also contributed to this violence.
In the association, where we are closely following the developments, we are seeing a decline in media freedom in the Netherlands. We believe that freedom of expression as an EU value is dangerously endangered in the Netherlands.
The Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists proposes to the European Parliament and the European Commission to organise a special mission to the Netherlands to check the facts in the field of media and freedom of expression.
Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists
Ljubljana, 7 July 2021
