ATHENS – In an ignominious finding, the annual World Press Freedom Index ranked Greece the lowest in the European Union for press freedom, citing tough laws at journalists.

Greece overtook Bulgaria as the worst in the 27 member state bloc and fell from 70th in the world to 108th on a list of 180 countries, compiled by Reporters Without Borders.

The worst in the world are violent dictatorships, including China, Belarus, Russia, Iran, Myanmar and North Korea but the EU is allegedly supposed to protect reporters but a Media Freedom Act has been stalled.

Greece is among a list of countries including Slovenia, Poland and Hungary which have intensified laws against journalists, the report said, according to Politico, which noted a 2021 law making it an offense to spread “false information” that is punishable by up to five years in jail.

The report also notes that those responsible for the murder of journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta and Ján Kuciak in Slovakia have yet to be convicted and Greek authorities have made no progress in finding who killed investigative jouirnalist Giorgos Karaivaz in April, 2021.

The World Press Freedom index classifies 180 countries according to the level of freedom available to journalists, based on an evaluation of pluralism, independence of the media and safety of journalists in each of the countries.