EU Commissioner for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová used the occasion to discuss the anti-SLAPP directive recently proposed by the EC and to warn that the EU is in the middle of an information war against Russia.

“Russian disinformation is part of their military doctrine, it can be very efficient and it can do a lot of dirty work in the EU,” she said.

“We must fight it by all means and not forget that while our obligation is to protect freedom of speech, this it isn’t absolute in the EU.”

“If freedom of speech has absolute power then we will absolutely give up on the truth, and we cannot be naive in this disinformation war.”

Last year, the Pegasus Project won the first edition of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for revealing government espionage on journalists, opposition politicians, activists and others using the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israel cyber intelligence company NSO Group.

Cover photo: Journalists from the Pegasus Project receive the first edition of the Daphne Caruana Galizia award for journalism

This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. This article reflects only the author’s view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Which work of journalism do you think should win the next edition of this prize?