The first award ceremony of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Investigative Journalism of the European Parliament took place today. The first prize winner is the Pegasus Project of the Forbidden Stories investigative network. The creation of the prize was proposed by Eva Joly and Sven Giegold from the Green Group following the murder of the well-known Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Commenting on today’s award ceremony, Sven Giegold, spokesperson for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the European Parliament, said:
“The journalists’ well-deserved honour has a bitter political aftertaste. After the revelations of the Pegasus project, the EU Commission has spoken big words but has not acted politically until today. The political consequences of the revelations are still pending. The EU Commission must finally present the results of its investigation into the use of spyware in Europe. If an European government spies on the media or civil society and thus breaks EU law, infringement proceedings must be initiated. The EU Commission should not exercise false restraint here because national intelligence services of EU states are involved. The use of spying software against journalists and human rights activists must not remain without consequences for Hungary.”
President Sassoli’s Award Ceremony Speech:
https://the-president.europarl.europa.eu/en/newsroom/sassoli-on-daphne-caruana-galizia-prize-protecting-and-supporting-journalists-is-in-the-vital-interest-of-democratic-societies