The declaration, which contains an assessment of the media situation and media freedoms in Croatia, welcomes the progress achieved in the area of media freedoms, but it also warns about occasional violations of the social, professional and moral rights of reporters and the media.
The declaration supports the Croatian Journalists' Trade Union (SNH) in its negotiations with employers, which are aimed at signing a national collective agreement by the end of the year. Foreign owners of media companies in Croatia are urged to respect the same rights, obligations and criteria which they are obliged to respect in their own countries.
The EFJ supported the request of the Croatian Journalists Association (HND) that local and regional media and journalists be allowed to do their work free of political pressure.
It also supported the request by the HND and the SNH for the government to help preserve Vjesnik daily as an independent public medium, and consequently ensure autonomy for the national news agency Hina.
The EFJ convention elected an eight-member Steering Committee and four regional representatives, who are invited when the Committee discusses individual regions.
HND president Dragutin Lucic was elected to represent Southeast Europe as the only member of an EFJ body from a country that is not an EU member.
The three-day meeting, held under the title "Promoting Core Labour Standards for All Journalists: The Challenges of the Digital Era", discussed the media situation in individual countries, labour rights, freelance reporters, authors' rights, and the rights of journalists working in the electronic media, and adopted guidelines for EFJ activities until 2010.