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19. 02. 2014

MIRKOVIC: MEDIA LAWS SOON IN BRUSSELS

19.2.2014. (RTV) - The draft Law on Public Information and the draft Law on Broadcast Media will soon be sent to Brussels for expert review, Serbian Deputy Minister of Culture and Media Sasa Mirkovic announced today.

At the roundtable "Cable TV Operators and Media Freedom in Serbia" he pointed out that the draft Law on Public Information, which is an umbrella law, is ready to be sent to EU experts.

"This document was translated and supporting documents are currently being produced. We expect it to reach Brussels in the coming days," Mirkovic said.

He added that the draft Law on Broadcast Media is currently being aligned with the opinions of other ministries, noting that the text is at the stage where it is being prepared for the translation and the table of alignment is being produced.

"We expect that this draft law will soon be sent to Brussels, as well. This means that we will have two laws undergoing the analysis in Brussels, which confirms that even the time during the current election campaign has been used for reforms in the Ministry of Culture and Media" said Mirkovic.

The third media law - the one on public service media, as Mirkovic said, "is at the stage in which only a part is missing, and this a very important part which concerns the funding of public service broadcasters".

According to Mirkovic, a sustainable funding model of public service broadcasters needs to be found in the future. "An expert working group is supposed to work on this model, composed of representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) and Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), Ministry of Culture and Media and various other institutions", Mirkovic said.

He added that the new media laws were envisaged by the media strategy of September 2011.

"We hope that in due time all the three laws will be in the parliamentary procedure and adopted. These three laws are the access to modern trends and they create a basis for the development of the media and their better functioning," Mirkovic pointed out.