Media activists from Russia and the Ukraine called for urgent EU and civil society help to protect press freedom in their counties at a public meeting held in Brussels on Nov. 26. They proposed establishing an international Pen Centre, holding “mega-forums” and adopting charts, similar to those used in the run-up to the Helsinki process.
Setting up an all-European Pen Centre
(see background) to gather journalists from Russia and the Ukraine, as
well as EU countries – especially ex-Soviet Bloc newcomers – could be an
answer to the deteriorating media situation, visiting journalists said.