In a statement prior to the session of parliament debating the two draft laws, the opposition parties that have been organizing the weekly anti-violence protests said that the laws would take Serbia back to the 1990s. It said that the draft Law on Public Information and the Media is the “first openly revisionist law which restores state ownership in the media and runs counter to modern European standards”. According to the statement, that law turns the state-owned Telekom Serbia into “the center of the future state media-propaganda machine”.
“It’s completely clear that a new expansionist stage of influence on the media by the authorities is being planned… under ideal conditions to spread disinformation and unobstructed propaganda,” the statement said. It warned that the disputed articles of the draft law legalize the restoration of state ownership in the media which runs counter to Media Strategy and prevents the creating of a fair media market protected from political influence.
The opposition parties called European Union institutions to take a clear stand and not remain silent on the intention of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to “devastate the media scene even more”.
The group of opposition parties said they would propose changes to the draft Law on Public Information and the Media … to give Serbia a basic media law supported by relevant journalist and media associations and in line with the Strategy to Develop a Public Information System 2020-2025.
The statement was signed by the Democratic Party (DS), Ecological Uprising, Green-Left Front, Popular Movement Serbia, Movement of Free Citizens (PSG), Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) and the Zajedno party.
