Confidentiality obligations
According to the Italian newspaper, as much as EUR 132.82 million were paid through Havas Media France, which is dependent on the Vivendi group. This was done on the basis of an agreement of 5 September 2023. This paper ensures that there is no full transparency regarding the individual payments and the media that have benefited from them. specified contract plan allows it to avoid registration in the TED database, and Havas has a work of secrecy for the protection of commercial interests.
The diary "Il Fatto Quotidiano" points out the deficiency of full transparency in the payments of European funds, asking why Parliament, the Council and the Commission do not let citizens to measure whether they had an impact on the media that received them. Ursula von der Leyen herself had to know this.
Split between the media
The paper besides reports that the funds went to specified media as RAI, Mediaset, Sky Italia, "Corriere della Sera", "La Repubblica", Il Sole 24 Ore, Adnkronos and Citynews, and any of them were dedicated to articles supporting the Brussels administration. "Il Fatto Quotidiano" besides reveals that the publishers of Agnelli-Elkann collaborated with the "La Repubblica", the European Parliament and the Commission to get remuneration for articles on European elections. According to the report, this co-operation allowed “La Repubblica” to receive EUR 62 000 through a contract with Havas.
‘Il Fatto Quotidiano’ emphasises that the agreement, initially covering EUR 62 000, was not put up for tender due to the fact that the framework agreement with Havas allowed this. The paper besides notes that akin "wide-ranging agreements" were negotiated in Italy.
Response from the EU Press Office
citing the test of the Italian newspaper, the Hungarian magazine "Hungarian Conservative" decided to send an enquiry to the European Parliament Press Office. The scripture received a feedback message.
In consequence to a press question, the European Parliament rejected the Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano’s claim, considering the article misleading. The press office stressed Parliament's commitment to independent media, pointing out that the framework agreement on the media strategy was concluded as a consequence of an open tender.
The press office explained that both the framework agreement and media grants were implemented in accordance with standard procedures and managed exclusively by the administration of the European Parliament and not by its Members. In addition, it pointed out that Parliament's press office remains full available, providing journalists with reliable information on their communication activities.
