EU debates ways to keep Radio Free Europe afloat after Trump orders staff cuts at US-funded media

BRUSSELS — European Union government ministers on Tuesday debated ways to keep Radio Free Europe afloat after the Trump administration stopped grants to the pro-democracy media outlet over the weekend. Sweden’s European Affairs Minister Jessica Rozencrantz insisted on the need to ensure that “Radio Free Europe really continues to be an important voice for freedom and democracy, especially in those places where it is most needed.” “Sweden encourages all countries and the Commission to really look into what we can do in terms of financing, to make sure that we continue to have a strong Radio Free Europe,” she told reporters in Brussels before the meeting. “The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies,” the network’s president and CEO, Stephen Capus, said in a statement in reaction to the move. But he added that Radio Free Europe “is not unfortunately the only one of the projects which was cut.” “We are doing comprehensive assessment on where the financial support from the U.S. was stopped,” he said, to work out “how can we help, what we can do.” On Monday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas recalled the influence that the network had on her as she was growing up in Estonia, which was part of the Soviet Union when she was a child.