Introduce measures that will remove the abusive practice of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, David Casa, Roberta Metsola and another 30 MEPs urged Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová.

In a letter the MEPs said these measures would protect the work and freedom of journalists in their line of work, as well as offer adequate legal protection for activists, human right defenders, academics and trade unionists.

This initiative was led by the Media Working Group, which is a group of MEPs focusing on issues related to the protection of journalists, of which Casa forms part of.

Casa said in a statement that that these measures were particularly important for Malta since such lawsuits were often used to silence government critics and media houses.

He said that according to a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on December 18, in Malta, journalists, and in particular investigative journalists but not exclusively, were increasingly facing such lawsuits against them, intended purely to hinder their work and silence them.

The MEPs' letter to Jourová refers to murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had 47 vexatious lawsuits filed against her at the time of her death, many of which had to be shouldered by her family.

A number of local media organisations and journalists have faced libel suits in foreign jurisdictions in recent years.

Among others, Satabank co-owner Christo Georgiev has sued Times of Malta in Bulgaria over alleged damage to his reputation. 

In February the Opposition tabled a Bill to protect journalists from costly overseas legal battles.

The MEPs believe that the EU response to these tactics should include a revamp of the Brussels I and Rome II Regulations, in order to address jurisdiction rules and end the possibility of forum shopping across the union.

"We need a legally binding instrument to deter SLAPPs all over Europe, as the absence of rules to protect people from SLAPPs has a negative impact on the exercise of the Treaty’s fundamental freedoms.

"Concretely, it affects the ability of media to confidently operate in member states where the risk of SLAPPs is higher, as well as discourage EU citizens willing to work for civil society organisation to seek employment in member states where NGO employees can be the target of SLAPPs."

Silencing public debate and watchdogs was detrimental to a democratic state and a democratic union. At a time of increasing pressure over free and independent media, an effective European answer is imperative to solving this problem, they added.