Right to know and access to information in Italy

Written declaration No. 676 | Doc. 14877 | 03 July 2019

Signatories:

Mr Roberto RAMPI, Italy, SOC ; Ms Thorhildur Sunna ÆVARSDÓTTIR, Iceland, SOC ; Ms Gökay AKBULUT, Germany, UEL ; Lord Donald ANDERSON, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Deborah BERGAMINI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Ms Maria Elena BOSCHI, Italy, SOC ; Mr Maurizio BUCCARELLA, Italy, NR ; Mr Algirdas BUTKEVIČIUS, Lithuania, SOC ; Mr José CEPEDA, Spain, SOC ; Mr Ahmet Ünal ÇEVİKÖZ, Turkey, SOC ; Ms Jette CHRISTENSEN, Norway, SOC ; Mr Boriss CILEVIČS, Latvia, SOC ; Mr Yunus EMRE, Turkey, SOC ; Ms Edite ESTRELA, Portugal, SOC ; Mr Piero FASSINO, Italy, SOC ; Lord George FOULKES, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Pierre-Alain FRIDEZ, Switzerland, SOC ; Mr Marco GATTI, San Marino, EPP/CD ; Mr André GATTOLIN, France, NR ; Ms Shpresa HADRI, North Macedonia, SOC ; Mr Domagoj HAJDUKOVIĆ, Croatia, SOC ; Mr Thomas HAMMARBERG, Sweden, SOC ; Ms Gabriela HEINRICH, Germany, SOC ; Mr Andrej HUNKO, Germany, UEL ; Mr Betian KITEV, North Macedonia, SOC ; Mr Haluk KOÇ, Turkey, SOC ; Mr Christophe LACROIX, Belgium, SOC ; Mr Jérôme LAMBERT, France, SOC ; Mr Emanuel MALLIA, Malta, SOC ; Mr Gianni MARILOTTI, Italy, NR ; Mr Matern von MARSCHALL, Germany, EPP/CD ; Baroness Doreen MASSEY, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Marianne MIKKO, Estonia, SOC ; Mr José MONTILLA, Spain, SOC ; Mr William MOORLAG, Netherlands, SOC ; Mr Marco NICOLINI, San Marino, UEL ; Mr Andrea ORLANDO, Italy, SOC ; Ms Maria RIZZOTTI, Italy, EPP/CD ; Ms Tabea RÖSSNER, Germany, SOC ; Ms Ulla SANDBÆK, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Axel SCHÄFER, Germany, SOC ; Mr Stefan SCHENNACH, Austria, SOC ; Mr Frank SCHWABE, Germany, SOC ; Mr Francesco SCOMA, Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Gheorghe-Dinu SOCOTAR, Romania, SOC ; Ms Tineke STRIK, Netherlands, SOC ; Ms Petra De SUTTER, Belgium, SOC ; Lord Don TOUHIG, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Ute VOGT, Germany, SOC ; Mr Jordi XUCLÀ, Spain, ALDE ; Mr Roger ZAVOLI, San Marino, FDG

This written declaration does not reflect the position of the Assembly; only of those members that have signed it. It will not be considered further by the Assembly.

We, the undersigned, declare the following:

Radio Radicale is a national radio station founded in Rome in 1976 focusing on key happenings in Italy’s institutions and politics, broadcasting live from the Italian Parliament, party congresses, Italian courts, Trade Unions and civil society events.

The archive of Radio Radicale counts 540 000 recordings; 224 000 speakers; 102 000 interviews; 23 500 hearings; 3 300 days of congresses of political parties, associations or unions; over 32 000 debates and book presentations; more than 6 900 political meetings and protests; 22 600 press conferences; more than 16 100 conferences.

Radio Radicale received 8.2 million euros per year, as payment for the agreement with the Ministry of Economic Development for the transmission of Parliament's sessions, and 4 million euros as contribution to publishing. The 2019 Budget Law extended the agreement for the broadcasting of parliamentary sessions by Radio Radicale for a single semester, allocating 5 million euros gross for the year 2019. In the absence of further measures at the half-yearly deadline, Radio Radicale will no longer have the necessary resources to continue its activities.

The Council of Europe should invite the Italian government to reconsider the decision to shut down Radio Radicale by cutting the financing which contributed to the formation of what Luigi Einaudi called “the right to know in order to deliberate”.