Political scientist Jovanka Matic said the latest developments surrounding the formation of Serbia’s Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, REM, repeat patterns seen more than 20 years ago.
Commenting on disputes over the formation of the REM Council and a new interpretation of Serbia’s Law on Electronic Media, Matic said the authorities were trying to speed up the process in order to unblock reforms important for opening Cluster 3 in EU accession talks and accessing funds from the EU Growth Plan.
She said the process was also linked to upcoming elections, arguing that the government was trying to repair its “shaken credibility.”
Several elected members of the REM Council who resigned in December are expected to decide whether they will return to the body and take up their posts.
Matic said the situation reflects an old model in which “form is more important than reform.”
“REM was stillborn from the beginning. External pressure, legal manoeuvres, direct violations of the law – all of this is repeating itself 20 years later,” she said.
She also criticised Serbia’s system of public co-financing for media projects, saying it had been turned upside down.
Instead of supporting local media and underrepresented voices, she said public money was being directed to media outlets that already have strong commercial opportunities and are politically useful to the authorities.
Source: N1
