Italy’s media landscape is on the brink of a historic shift as one of its major newspaper publishers faces acquisition by a foreign media mogul. In this piece, Roberta Carlini discusses whether this high-stakes deal could trigger the first application of Europe’s new legal shield for press freedom, the European Media Freedom Act.
In December 2025, Greek media mogul Theodoris Kyriakou moved to acquire Italian publisher GEDI, the group behind La Repubblica, Italy’s second-largest newspaper. GEDI and Kyriakou’s Antenna Group confirmed the deal and announced a two-month extension of exclusive negotiations.
Several factors make this potential acquisition a cause of concern.
First, Italy’s media landscape already shows significant risks to pluralism, as highlighted by the EUI’s Media Pluralism Monitor, a holistic research tool developed to assess the health of media pluralism in European member states and candidate countries, using a risk score system to highlight vulnerabilities. In Italy’s case, its current medium-high risk score stems from long-standing issues: a concentrated audiovisual market dominated by the RAI-Mediaset duopoly, political influence over public service media, and other structural weaknesses.
The GEDI group is a major player in Italy: second in newspapers and third in radio. One of its flagship newspapers, La Repubblica, has historically represented a liberal-progressive voice and maintains a critical stance toward Giorgia Meloni’s centre-right government. However, this historic role has diminished over the years amid falling readership and a group-wide strategy of disinvestment. Notably, GEDI has sold off all its local newspapers, accelerating a shift toward “mixed ownership” in local media—a trend where new owners, whose primary interests lie outside the media, operate in sectors closely tied to (local) political power.
The second concern is the limited transparency surrounding the buyer. Antenna Group is the media arm of the Kyriakou family empire. As detailed in a report by the Italian journalists’ union Associazione Stampa Subalpina—based on an investigation by the Solomon consortium, an independent Greek outlet—Antenna is controlled by the Luxembourg-based K-Group. This holding is owned in equal shares by Minos Kyriakou’s sons: Theodoris, Xenophon, and Athina.
Their father, Minos Kyriakou, founded the group, building a media empire from a family shipping fortune. The family conglomerate now spans 89 companies, registered largely in the Netherlands, Greece, and Cyprus, with others in the Marshall Islands, Luxembourg, Ireland, and the UK. Its interests stretch from shipping and real estate to finance and media. The family’s media assets, focused on TV and radio, are spread across 34 companies, making it a major player in Greek broadcasting with a presence also in Eastern Europe, the UK, and Australia.
Critically, the group has no prior experience in the newspaper sector. Italian reports suggest its interest lies primarily in GEDI’s radio assets (notably Radio Capital, Radio Deejay, and M2o) and La Repubblica’s national brand. While unconfirmed, these rumors have raised alarms about the deal’s impact on jobs and future investment in news. The report by journalist Danai Maragoudaki also notes the Kyriakou group’s business ties to Saudi Arabia; since 2022, the Saudi Public Investment Fund has held a minority stake in Antenna Greece. Theodoris Kyriakou, Antenna’s CEO, maintains close relationships with political figures in Greece, the US, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
The third risk involves editorial independence. Prominent voices, including columnist Bill Emmot and Italy’s national journalists’ union (FNSI), have warned of the acquisition’s potential impact on the editorial lines of affected outlets. The Italian Journalists’ Association (Ordine dei Giornalisti) has urged the government to use its “golden power” to block the deal should it fail to guarantee editorial autonomy and protect employment levels.
Does the GEDI-Antenna deal require a media pluralism test?
Remarkably, the Italian debate has paid scant attention to a new tool designed for this exact scenario: the “media pluralism test” under the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).
Article 22 of the EMFA, which took effect in August 2025, requires a specific assessment of media market concentrations that could significantly impact pluralism and editorial independence. This test complements competition law and must be carried out by a national independent authority, potentially with input from the new European Board for Media Services. If finalised in early 2026, the GEDI-Antenna deal would clearly fall within its scope. The question, however, is whether Italy’s regulatory framework is prepared for such a test.
Article 22 does not create direct obligations for media companies but requires EU member states to establish national rules for conducting these assessments. Italy already has a mechanism in place: its media authority, AGCOM, can evaluate media mergers for their impact on pluralism. However, Italy’s pre-existing legislation does not perfectly mirror the criteria set by the EMFA. Crucially, it does not explicitly require regulators to consider the impact on editorial independence—a core focus of Article 22.
Thus, the GEDI-Antenna case will test Italy’s compliance with the new European law. While the acquisition may not increase market concentration—it could even decrease it if assets are broken up—it could severely impact editorial independence if the new owner shifts the political stance of these influential outlets.
Consequently, AGCOM may choose to interpret its national powers extensively, factoring editorial independence into its pluralism assessment and imposing relevant conditions on the deal. Conversely, failing to apply Article 22 to a major merger would constitute an infringement of EU law, forcing Italy to reform its legislation.
The Italian regulator can—and should—use its existing national procedures to enforce the new European standards. The European Board for Media Services could also intervene, either by providing an opinion at AGCOM’s request or on its own initiative, given the cross-border nature of the companies involved.
How Article 22 is applied in the GEDI-Antenna case will set a critical precedent, not just for Italy but for the EMFA’s implementation across Europe. A recent case in the Netherlands offers one model: during the acquisition of RTL Nederland by DPG Media, the Dutch competition authority voluntarily sought advice from the national media regulator and attached strict conditions to safeguard pluralism and independence, effectively anticipating the EMFA’s principles.
The path Italy takes will be telling. A rigorous assessment would demonstrate a practical route to implementing the EMFA through existing national law. A lack of intervention, however, would signal non-compliance, compelling a legislative overhaul, and highlighting the challenges of aligning national media traditions with a new European framework.
About the author
Roberta Carlini is a part-time assistant professor at the EUI. Roberta joined the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) and the Centre for a Digital Society (CDS), based at the EUI’s Robert Schuman Centre, after a career as journalist, specialised in economic and social issues. Her research in media studies focuses on the economic dimension of media pluralism and media freedom.
The analysis in this piece was developed in consultation with the research team of the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom. The views and conclusions expressed are the author’s own. A longer version of this post, with more insights into the legal and technical aspects, is published here as part of the CMPF EMFA Observatory.
Source: EUIdeas
