Attending your first Presidential press conference can be quite daunting. Which is why I spent the whole morning ahead of the visit of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her crew to my hometown, preparing my notes and questions for the day.
However, I found it rather unfortunate that we were never given the chance to ask THE question on everyone’s mind. As a new and rather naive journalist, I had thought the big challenge of the day would’ve been to muster the courage first and ask about Videogate. To be the first to stand up and with the appropriate use of the word “allegedly” get to ask the President of the Commission herself “What is your opinion on the suggestion, from this controversial video, that individuals can use financial influence to “change” sanctions lists?”
Instead, we got the regular. “Only state media will be asking questions”. i.e. Only state media and a little bit of fairy dust. Sitting there, I felt the excitement I had carried into the day quietly drain away. Why are we here, then? I found myself thinking.
And this begs the other question, what about the 70 foreign journalists that were brought in to cover this grand visit? Was it worth flying them over, when they’re not even allowed the chance to speak? Was the only purpose of this visit some basking in the warm sun of the Mediterranean? To project an image of European seriousness? To say, look, we have journalists too - they just don’t ask questions?
Being a journalist is meant to bring you closer to the inner workings of democracy. And your supposed purpose is to bring your readers even closer to it. I don’t feel like any European got this sense from us yesterday, but we weren’t given the chance to, anyway.
What are the elements of democracy that such events are meant to uphold? We are not sat here to be ceremonial. We are here to press. We are here to ask, on behalf of others, about the very things that make this Union one of democracy, freedom and accountability.