22. 07. 2013

EU: TRANSPARENT MEDIA OWNERSHIP KEY PRIORITY

Belgrade, July 22, 2013 (Blic) - The implementation of the Media Strategy, especially its parts pertaining to transparent ownership and financing of media, are now, more than ever, the key priority of the state, in light of the decision of the Council of Europe on opening of accession dialogue with Serbia, the EC Directorate General for Enlargement has announced, as daily Blic is reporting.

In a letter by the chief of relations with Serbia Myriam Ferran, sent under the instruction of the European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule to the news agencies FoNet and Beta, Ferran said that tangible support was necessary in this area.

"The initial deadlines specified in the Media Strategy have already been broken, specifically March 2013, when the authorities were due to adopt regulations which would set the status of the Tanjug state news agency and other state-owned and state-funded media", Ferran said in the letter.

Ferran further said that the alignment of state financing of the media at various levels with rules on state financial aid, including state funding through commercial campaigns, needed to be "completely assured".

She referred to the position of the Commissioner Fule that the "political interference with media freedom" was one of the key issues that the candidate countries would tackle in the process of EU accession.

"This primarily relates to the transparency of ownership in media, as well as media funding. This aspect is the central point in the Media Strategy, whose implementation remains the key priority", Ferran said.

The news agencies also said that the media reform was being delayed meant that the state was attempting to prolong the budget financing of the media, postponing the transition toward their project financing through public competitions and the exit of the state from the media.