As freedom of expression rights organisations based in the European Union member states, the nations of the European Neighbourhood Policy, Eastern Partnership and Mediterranean Union and members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), we welcome the decision of an Athens court to acquit Greek investigative journalist Kostas Vaxevanis. Mr Vaxevanis had named alleged account holders in an offshore bank that had been protected from tax investigation for two years. Despite the positive outcome, we would still like to express our concern at the decision of the Greek authorities to bring Mr Vaxevanis to court and his treatment in the run up to that hearing. The charge should never have been made, let alone brought to court. We also note that another Greek journalist, Spiros Karatzaferis, was also arrested this week on an old, unrelated criminal libel charge after claiming he would publish classified documents relating to Greeces financial bailout. We urge European Union institutions to make a clear stand in favour of freedom of expression and publication in the public interest in Greece. Under the Lisbon Treaty, the compliance with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is legally binding on EU members. This includes the right under Article 11 to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers, and the obligation that that the freedom and pluralism of the media shall be respected. As the Commission itself noted in the context of implementing the Charter, the Union itself must be exemplary in order to: enable people living in the Union to enjoy the rights enshrined in the charter; build mutual trust between EU countries; build public confidence in EU policies; improve credibility of EU external action on human rights.