The head of the European Union foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, attended the Council of the UE-Ukraine Association at the European Council building in Brussels on April 9, 2025.
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The European Union intervened to provide Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty an infusion of millions of dollars to continue to operate while the international broadcaster fights against the Trump administration to publish funds that the congress has already appointed.
“We are grateful for emergency funding to help keep radio free Europe / Radio Liberty,” said network president Steve Capus in a Brussels statement, where he met European officials.
“The survival of Radio Liberty remains at risk as long as these funds are retained,” said Capus, referring to $ 75 million selected by the Trump administration.
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty were founded in the early 1950s as part of the Cold War initiatives to combat propaganda and Soviet influence. They merged later. The information network seeks to provide non -ideological information coverage and programming to Eastern European countries and neighboring states where the press is unable to operate freely.
Last year, more than 47 million unique users relied on its coverage each week in 23 countries, according to the network, especially in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States, Hungary, Iran and other Central Asian and Caucasus countries. The Trump administration initially sought to dismantle Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and its sisters networks, including Voice of America. His main advisor, Kari Lake, called them biased and Affirmed to have served anti-American dishes.
While President Trump has cited the need to identify the main budget cuts through the government, his actions are perfectly written in a broader strategy to undermine the finances and independence of the media.
Actions include predictable decrees to eliminate federal financing of public dissemination and claiming the members of the board of directors of the public dissemination company. The person appointed by Trump at the top of the Federal Communications Commission launched surveys on all the main Save Fox radio networks (belonging to Ally, Rupert Murdoch of Trump). And Trump and his allies filed private civil lawsuits against the main media.
Lake, the main presidential advisor, supervised contracts for more than 500 people at Voice of America and his parental agency last week. A court of appeal plans to a trial of a coalition of journalists, employees, unions and press defenders who say that its actions violate federal law and the protection of freedom of expression.
The US government has retained the monthly payments from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty until a federal judge welcomes $ 12 million. Parental outfit, the American world media agency, sent the late funds for April. The network is still waiting for its federal payment for May.
Monday, RFE / RL filed a request for a new temporary prohibition order from the court to oblige payments for this month. He also asked for a preliminary injunction forcing the agency to send the $ 75 million appropriate for the rest of the fiscal year to the network, which ends on September 30.
Until now, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has put dozens of employees on content, canceled contracts with freelancers and reduces programming.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told journalists that it would give $ 6.2 million to “support the vital work of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty”.
“This is short-term emergency funding designed as a safety net for independent journalism (of the network),” she added.
Sweden has already committed to giving $ 2 million to support RFE / RL reports, but these funds have not yet been arrived.
“The first thing she says is how Europeans appreciate the work that RFE does, and how important they are important in their news regime and their new ecosystem,” explains Rick Stengel, former under-secretary of state in the United States, under former President Barack Obama.
He underlines in particular the reports of the network on Russia and Hungary and the influence they exert on other European nations. Stengel also tells NPR that this emergency financing crisis suggests a model that could prove more stable in the future.
“In many ways, it was an initiative of the post-second World War and the Cold War, which sought to help European countries which fell under the shadow of Soviet domination,” said Stengel. “Now that they have come out under this, why wouldn’t you even have a funding consortium for RFE which is a combination of European and American financing?”
Such a solution could make it less dependent on the whim of an unpredictable American administration, he said.
