Brussels – Italy and 13 other European Union member states have been issued with a yellow card over gag lawsuits, known as SLAPPs—that is, unfounded and abusive legal actions aimed at silencing those acting in the public interest. The European Commission today (15 July) launched infringement proceedings by sending letters of formal notice to Italy along with Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia. These countries have been formally accused of failing to notify the full transposition of the EU rules on the protection of people involved in public participation from manifestly unfounded legal actions or abusive legal proceedings (EU Directive 2024/1069 of 11 April 2024).
Those targeted by SLAPPs include “journalists, human rights defenders or civil society organisations,” and EU Directive 2024/1069 provides the tools to enable them to defend themselves against “manifestly unfounded claims or abusive civil proceedings with cross-border implications.” The rules also allow courts to dismiss manifestly unfounded claims at the early stages of proceedings and provide remedies for those targeted, as well as protection against judgments issued by third countries.
Member States had until 7 May 2026 to transpose the directive into their national legislation, but to date, the 14 countries have not notified the Commission of its full transposition. The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice—the documents certifying the infringement—to the Member States concerned, which now have two months to respond and inform the Berlaymont Building of the full set of transposition measures they have adopted. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion, an official notice in which the Commission formally declares that the country is in breach of European Union law.
“The infringement proceedings launched by the European Commission against Italy for failing to transpose the anti-SLAPP directive add to the long list of disasters under the Meloni government”, said Gaetano Pedullà, MEP for the Five Star Movement. While the directive “protects journalists from intimidating legal action, such as frivolous lawsuits brought by those wielding significant political or economic power,” in our country “this abuse is, unfortunately, an established practice that stifles freedom of information and fuels self-censorship among journalists,” he added. According to Pedullà, press freedom in Italy “is in a comatose state,” as, in addition to the problem of frivolous lawsuits, there are “media concentration, precarious employment, expired employment contracts, non-compliance with the EMFA regulations, handouts to friendly newspapers, including those owned by a member of the ruling coalition itself.” For this reason, we must hope that “this procedure serves as a wake-up call for a government that fears free journalism and which must step down as soon as possible,” he concluded.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
