{"id":4886,"date":"2026-01-22T20:43:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T19:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/defending-the-rule-of-law-in-the-eu-the-sanctions-threat-to-journalists\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T19:30:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T18:30:37","slug":"defending-the-rule-of-law-in-the-eu-the-sanctions-threat-to-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/defending-the-rule-of-law-in-the-eu-the-sanctions-threat-to-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Defending the Rule of Law in the EU: The Sanctions Threat to Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

In a hard-hitting new legal opinion Prof. Dr. Ninon Colneric – a former EC Court of Justice[1]<\/a> judge – and Professor of International Law at the University of Angers Prof. Dr. Alina Miron, have said that \u2018the EU has crossed the Rubicon\u2019 with the restrictions placed on freedom of expression in the EU by the EU\u2019s new \u2018disinformation\u2019 sanctions regime.<\/p>

In the legal opinion, commissioned by MEPs Michael von der Schulenburg and Ruth Firmenich, and to be presented at an event in the European Parliament next Tuesday, 11 November, they write, \u2018With these measures restricting freedom of expression the EU [is] limiting a freedom that has been quintessential to its identity.\u2019<\/p>

The new regime has been used to sanction 47 individuals to date, including a number of citizens of the EU. As noted in the report, being sanctioned \u2018affects the entire existence of listed persons\u2019, most particularly when they are EU citizens sanctioned by the EU. Being sanctioned is a kind of \u2018mort civile\u2019 (\u2018civil death\u2019)\u00a0 – assets are frozen and access to banking effectively cut off; it is prohibited to make funds or economic resources available either directly or indirectly to sanctioned individuals, rendering effectively nil their ability to work or conduct a business in order to generate income; and they are prohibited from travelling within the European Union beyond the state where they have their residence.<\/p>

The authors point out numerous aspects of the EU\u2019s new sanctions framework that are unlawful under EU law, as well as a wide range of problematic aspects as regards compliance with fundamental rights requirements under law. They write that the concepts employed in the regime, such as \u2018information manipulation and interference\u2019 \u2018are broad enough to grant virtually unfettered discretion to the Council\u2019 in making decisions to sanction persons under the regime. Such \u2018unfettered discretion\u2019 obviously raises the frightening spectre of politically motivated targeting of individuals under the framework.<\/p>

Prof. Dr. Colneric and Prof. Dr. Miron conclude that the denial of the right to be heard to persons charged with disinformation before the decision to sanction them is taken is disproportionate, and therefore unlawful. They write that \u2018the damage caused to one of the pillars of democracy [freedom of expression] is disproportionate to the aim of fighting disinformation,\u2019 and conclude that the measures are in breach of Article 11 of the EU\u2019s Charter of Fundamental Rights. In addition, the restrictions on the freedom of movement of EU citizens sanctioned under the regime are unlawful, and necessary provisions on legal safeguards are lacking.<\/p>

The authors\u2019 conclusions regarding the \u2018chilling effect\u2019 of the new sanctions regime on journalists and others are stark. They write that the regime \u2018makes it risky to touch upon topics which are the object of public controversy because information might be labelled as disinformation. The sanctions regime is\u2026liable to deter journalists and others from exercising their right to freedom of expression and information when it comes to certain topics.\u2019<\/p>

Say Michael von der Schulenburg MEP and Ruth Firmenich MEP: \u2018The EU\u2019s \u201cdisinformation\u201d sanctions regime must be challenged, given its dangerous and thoroughgoing attack on the right to freedom of expression, as well as the numerous breaches of EU law that it rests upon. The European Parliament must act, and seek to have this dangerous new framework annulled.\u2019<\/p>

[1]<\/a> Court of Justice of the European Communities, former name of Court of Justice of the European Union<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOpen Letter (PDF)<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnswer from Kaja Kallas (PDF)<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnswer from Michael von der Schulenburg (PDF)<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a hard-hitting new legal opinion Prof. Dr. Ninon Colneric – a former EC Court of Justice[1] judge – and Professor of International Law at the University of Angers Prof. Dr. Alina Miron, have said that \u2018the EU has crossed the Rubicon\u2019 with the restrictions placed on freedom of expression in the EU by the…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defending-rule-of-law-in-the-eu","category-generally"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4886"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5385,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4886\/revisions\/5385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michael-von-der-schulenburg.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}