EU steps in to save Radio Free Europe with $6.2m emergency fund after Trump cuts
The European Union plans to provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet
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The European Union agreed Tuesday to provide emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet, accusing it of promoting a news agenda with a liberal bias.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty started broadcasting during the Cold War. Its programs are aired in 27 languages in 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. Its lawyers have been fighting the administration in court.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the blocâs foreign ministers had agreed to a 5.5-million-euro ($6.2 million) contract to âsupport the vital work of Radio Free Europe.â The âshort-term emergency fundingâ is a âsafety netâ for independent journalism, she said.
Kallas said the EU would not be able to fill the organization's funding gap around the world, but that it can help the broadcaster to âwork and function in those countries that are in our neighborhood and that are very much dependent on news coming from outside.â
She said that she hoped the 27 EU member countries would also provide more funds to help Radio Free Europe longer term. Kallas said the bloc has been looking for âstrategic areasâ where it can help as the United States cuts foreign aid.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyâs corporate headquarters are in Washington and its journalistic headquarters are based in the Czech Republic, which has been leading the EU drive to find funds.
Last month, a U.S. federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore $12 million that was appropriated by Congress. Lawyers for the service, which has been operating for 75 years, said it would be forced to shut down in June without the money.
In March, Kallas recalled the influence that the network had on her as she was growing up in Estonia, which was part of the Soviet Union.
âComing from the other side of the Iron Curtain, actually it was (from) the radio that we got a lot of information,â she said. âSo, it has been a beacon of democracy, very valuable in this regard.â
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