EU Commissioner wanted to call anti-SLAPP directive ‘Daphne’s law’

A European law to protect the press against vexatious lawsuits was dubbed ‘the Daphne law’ by European Commissioner Vera Jourova, as a tribute to the late Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese journalist assassinated in 2017.

“I wanted to call it Daphne’s law, as I felt that Daphne Caruana Galizia was working with us on that,” Jourova said in a tweet a day after issuing the law.

Matthew Caruana Galizia, the son of the journalist and director of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation tahnks Jourova and Commissioner Didier Reynders for the work on the law. “The Commission’s proposal is the beginning of a new phase in our campaign as a family, and as members of the Coalition. We now need to focus on member states who need to implement the Commission’s measures as a minimum, to protect the public interest and to do justice to my mother’s sacrifice.”

Jourova said the Commission was doing this because they want to protect those who dare to speak up for the public interest. “I promised this to the family of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. She had more than 40 lawsuits of this type at home and abroad.”

Matthew Caruana Galizia was speaking at an event by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE), where they welcomed the European Commission’s anti-SLAPP initiative which includes key remedies and procedural safeguards needed in any effective anti-SLAPP legislation.

SLAPPs are Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are cases where the rich and powerful, be they public or private sector initiate a litany of frivolous often baseless legal proceedings against an individual or group, saddling defendants with so many legal cases so that they no longer cope financially, mentally or both, thereby silencing them and halting their work.

The latest initiative focuses on cross-border cases and recognises that SLAPPs can impact all those who hold the powerful to account.

Civil society organisations were encouraged to see that the core components of CASE model directive as well as safeguards the organisation has been suggesting for years fed into the proposal: an early dismissal mechanism, a regime of sanctions, and protective measures for those targeted by SLAPPs.

Flutura Kusari, legal advisor at European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, called the law a historical development. “SLAPPs destroy careers. Today is the first step in creating serious obstacles to those hoping to use SLAPPs to censor journalists and to hide the truth. We are more motivated than ever to continue our fight against SLAPPs.”

Sarah Clarke, Head of the Europe and Central Asia team, ARTICLE 19, said the European Commission had taken important steps to implement civil society’s call to safeguard journalists and other watchdogs under increasing threat from SLAPPs. “The CASE coalition will now continue our work with all actors - from member states to parliamentarians to judges and lawyers – to ensure the strongest possible set of rules and support systems to combat SLAPPs across the EU.”