Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is now accepting millions in emergency funds from the European Union amid a funding standoff with the Trump administration. The EU grant, totaling $6.2 million, is aimed at keeping the broadcaster operating after the US government withheld $75 million that Congress already allocated to it, reports NPR. Sweden has pledged another $2 million, but those funds haven't yet come through. "In a time of growing, unfiltered content, independent journalism is more important than ever," says Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, per the New York Times.
Kallas adds, however, that the EU's assistance is only "short term," and that its funding was meant to help RFE/RL "work and function in those countries that are in our neighborhood and that are very much dependent on news coming from outside," per the AP. The broadcaster, which serves more than 47 million weekly users across 23 nations—including Russia, Ukraine, Iran, and parts of Central Asia—was founded during the Cold War to push back on Soviet propaganda.
Today, it remains an important news source in regions where press freedom is limited. RFE/RL President Steve Capus stressed that the network's survival remains uncertain as long as the US funds are held back. A court recently ordered $12 million released for April, but May's payment has been delayed, leaving the organization to furlough staff and slash programming. "Coming from the other side of the Iron Curtain, actually it was [from] the radio that we got a lot of information," says Kallas. "It has been a beacon of democracy." (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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