On 3 December, at around 2 pm, a hearing will be held at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the draft resolution on the Right to Know, of which Senator Roberto Rampi is the General Rapporteur. The hearing will take place online within a session of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media of which Rampi himself is vice president. The four experts who will be heard are Helen Darbishire, director of Access Info Europe; Ezechia Paolo Reale, lawyer and Secretary of the Siracusa International Institute; Claudio Radaelli, professor of political science at the European University Institute; Laura Harth, coordinator of the Scientific Council of the Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella”. The hearing will be broadcasted live through the home page of the website of Radio Radicale.
A project promoted and carried forward by the Nonviolent Radical Party Transnational Transparty, reaffirmed in the 2019 congressional motion, will therefore be on the agenda of a major European institution known to be a beacon for the protection of democratic principles and rights, as well as a key for the elaboration of international law. Indeed, PACE has been a starting point for the affirmation of new rights as well as their political and legal. For us, it is an intermediate step which should boost our momentum with a view to getting to the United Nations.
Our speakers will therefore outline the main recommendations contained in the background report which the final resolution will be built upon. In particular, recommendations on media freedom and pluralism, monitoring of the media, the role of parliaments and intermediate bodies in animating public debate and the shadowy use of algorithms will be presented. A central stage in the battle defined by many as “the last battle of Marco Pannella”, to inject new blood into our societies to cultivate freedom of thought and democratic culture. To sum up, we are willing to averting the risk raised by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston of a world in which “citizens become increasingly visible to their governments, but not the other way around”.
Matteo Angioli
Segretario generale del Comitato Globale per lo Stato di Diritto “Marco Pannella”