Fact: Relax
The word slack is an abbreviation of the English Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (in Swedish strategic lawsuits to prevent public participation) and is used to describe when someone tries to silence critics by dragging them before expensive court processes.
In April 2022, the EU Commission put forward proposals to make it easier for courts to reject unfounded lawsuits and also be able to fine the person behind the verdict. In addition, they want the EU countries to refuse to recognize judgments in defamation proceedings handed down in countries outside the EU, if they can be considered to be clearly unfounded.
EU justice ministers gave the thumbs up to their view of the so-called “anti-slack” legislation at their ministerial meeting in Luxembourg on Friday.
Slapp has become a collective term for deliberate attempts to silence or intimidate inconvenient publications by going to court.
The European Commission now wants to make it easier for courts to say no to that type of case.
– Basically, it means that you use various legal means to protect journalists and others from legal processes that are initiated only with the aim of silencing someone. A legal process means a huge strain for the person who is exposed, from cost risks to other procedural risks, says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M).
However, the EU countries have been criticized during the winter and spring for having watered down the proposal. The responsible EU Commissioner Didier Reynders also regrets the “weakenings” that have been made.
Gunnar Strömmer notes, however, that the issue is not “uncomplicated”.
— The right to judicial review is a human right. You want to find an order that does not cause you to casually reject legal processes that may have merit. But I think we have sorted that out in a good way, says Strömmer in Luxembourg.
Friday’s settlement must now be reconciled in compromise negotiations with the EU Parliament, which has not yet decided on its line on the issue.