The regulatory body for electronic media still does not have a president, which is no wonder. A draw was even proposed at the session, but that creative proposal has not yet been accepted
The return of four independent candidates in Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media led to the expected stalemate. It is calculated that the remaining four are favorable to the authorities, and the ninth candidate is not yet available.
Exactly in accordance with that, the Council session was held this Thursday (July 30), where again the President of the Council was not elected, which is the second time that this has happened. The third attempt should be in mid-August.
Dubravka Valić Nedeljković, one of the independent candidates, was proposed, as was Miloš Garić.
In the end, everyone voted for “their own” and no one got the necessary six votes.
REM has not had a Council president for two full years.
Rodoljub Šabić, former Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and one of the members, said at one point in the session: “I would suggest Ms. Valić. I agree with Mr. Garić that we have to get out of this position. Much more is expected of us. The media scene is contaminated with savage things, hundreds of people are waiting for answers. I appeal to find a solution, even if it is a draw, anything that will enable the Council to be constituted.”
But, in the end, that didn’t happen and REM remains dysfunctional. Even before, when it was formally operational, REM did not deal with its basic job of showing the media where the limits of the law and better customs are.
Šabić’s response to criticism
Sabic and other independent candidates were the target of criticism for even returning to the REM Council after the authorities sabotaged the election of the ninth member.
“We can prevent the making of decisions that are in the interest of the government. To begin with, that is not a small thing. If we cannot influence the proposals that came from the other side, let’s remind those people of the law – that they are not representatives of the government, and we are representatives of the opposition, but people who, according to their conscience, should decide on issues that serve the purpose of protecting the public interest and applying the law – and then we will at least prevent the making of illegal decisions and inform the public in order to provide them with a completely clear picture of what is happening there,” he said about this. Sabic recently in interview for “Vreme”.
“At the end of the day, what can we do in the National Assembly? What can we do in any institution in Serbia? If the question is posed like that, it is complete defeatism. So we can’t do anything, let’s all withdraw from all institutions,” he added.
Source: Vreme
