We the undersigned, members of the general public, employees of Agence France-Presse and organisations committed to media pluralism and the right to complete and objective information, express our support for the structural independence of AFP.
For more than half a century its statutes have not prevented AFP from growing into one of the world's three major news agencies, present on five continents and working in six languages.
We reject any change which would have the effect of either turning AFP into a government agency, or handing it over either wholly or partially to private companies of any type and in whatever form.
We demand that the agency retain its specific characteristics, its ability to carry out its mission in the general interest and its structural independence. We therefore oppose any changes which would compromise its statutes, laid down in a law passed by the French parliament in 1957.
