Around 50 editors-in-chief and journalists from 20 countries plan to ratify the first "European Charter for Press Freedom" on 25 May in Hamburg.

The charter formulates principles for the freedom of the press/media from government interference – in particular for their right to safety from surveillance, electronic eavesdropping and searches of editorial departments and computers, and unimpeded access for journalists and citizens to all domestic and foreign sources of information.

Following its ratification on 25 May at the G+J Pressehaus on Baumwall in Hamburg, the charter will be notified to the EU Commission in Brussels to assert its validity throughout the European Union and make its adoption a condition in EU accession negotiations.

The conference in Hamburg, which is jointly backed by publishing companies Gruner + Jahr and Axel Springer, will also be attended by journalists from non-EU countries including Russia, Belarus, Serbia and Turkey. About a dozen representatives of other European media who will not be attending the conference have already indicated they will sign the charter, which consists of ten articles.

Source: Press release