The Serbian Parliament’s Culture and Information Committee has invited MPs to a meeting organized by the Delegation of the European Union (EU), where they are scheduled to discuss the authorized nominating bodies and candidates for the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM). Opposition MPs view this as an act of pressure.
“We invite you to a meeting, organized by the Delegation of the European Union in the Republic of Serbia, to be held tomorrow, June 27, at Europe House. The agenda will include a discussion on the authorized nominators and candidates for the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media,” the invitation from the Culture and Information Committee reads.
According to N1 sources, opposition MPs are interpreting this as pressure and an attempt by the EU to salvage a process that has stalled.
N1 has also learned that opposition MPs believe they should not attend the meeting, arguing that doing so “suspends Parliament, violates the law, and legitimizes the violation of laws and procedures.”
The previous selection process for members of the media regulator council was unanimously annulled on April 28, following a 14-day blockade of two Serbian state TV (RTS) buildings by students.
A second attempt to select council members also failed in mid-June when 16 candidates, nominated by 78 different organizations, withdrew from the process. They cited gross violations of the law as the reason for their withdrawal.
“The independent groups cited numerous serious violations of legal requirements and manipulation of the election process by the government majority in the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly. Many of the proposed candidates did not satisfy professional requirements, while multiple organizations permitted to nominate candidates displayed clear government bias or were formed in murky circumstances” said a press release issued at the time by the International Press Institute (IPI) and its partners, MFRR and the SafeJournalists Network.
Source: N1
