Although the public call for the appointment of one of the two members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services clearly states that it refers to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the field of media, the President of the Parliament Andrija Mandic withdrew it yesterday at the request of Forum Progress, because the explanation cited articles of the law that define the general conditions under which NGOs can nominate candidates.
Yesterday, Mandić announced on the social network X that he was withdrawing the public invitation to NGOs in the field of media to appoint one member of the Agency's Council, as well as to the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU) and the Montenegrin PEN Center, also to appoint one member.
He said he did so after the Assembly's Administrative Committee informed him that the public invitation contained a technical error, which was "pointed out to the Committee by the non-governmental sector."
"The aforementioned deficiency, as the Administrative Board informed me in a letter, may affect the legality of the procedure, which I would not want," Mandić said.
Yesterday, the last, 45th day of the deadline for applying for the public call expired.
"The Initiative in question states that, in accordance with the terms of the Public Call, a non-governmental organization may nominate a candidate for a member of the Agency Council if it meets the following conditions: 'In its founding act and statute, as the main goals and tasks of its activities, it has issues from the areas referred to in Article 148, paragraph 1, items 2 and 3 of the Law on Audiovisual Media Services and has continuously dealt with these issues in the previous three years prior to the publication of the public call for nominating candidates for members of the Agency Council'. Bearing in mind that item 2 of the relevant article of the Law refers to NGOs that deal with the protection of human rights and freedoms, to which the public call does not apply, but rather refers exclusively to NGOs in the field of media, the aforementioned technical error, as stated, could jeopardize the entire election process, and it could later be challenged before the competent court," states Mandić's decision, published on the Parliament's website.
From Mandić's decision it can be seen that on January 21st, the Administrative Board formed a working group to review the documentation of the candidates who applied, on January 22nd Bojana Jokić from NGO Forum sends its initiative to cancel the public invitation to Mandić and the President of the Administrative Board Jelena Nedovic (PES), and the board informs Mandić about this on January 23rd.
Jokić stated in the initiative that the invitation contained a technical error "which may call into question the success of the selection in question", and the decision on the selection could be challenged in court.
He recalls that the mandate of the member of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services (AVM), who was elected from among authorized proposers of non-governmental organizations in the field of media, has expired and believes that the call should "specify that only authorized proposers from among NGOs in the field of media have the right to propose", although this is clearly stated in the title of the call.
One of the reasons for canceling the advertisement was to "avoid a situation in which NGOs themselves argue among themselves," even though the mandate of the member of the Agency's Council from NGOs dealing with the protection of human rights and freedoms expires in June 2026.
"Vijesti" tried to contact Jokić last night and asked her what exactly was the problem with the invitation and why she submitted the initiative two days before the deadline for candidate applications, but she was not available at the number known to the editorial staff.
The newspaper was unable to find out whether any human rights NGO "got confused" and registered its candidate for a member of the Media Council at Mandić's invitation.
Director of the Media Center Goran Đurović believes that Mandić's decision to withdraw the ad is political, because, as he says, he realized that the "majority candidate" would not pass.
Đurović told "Vijesti" that the NGO candidate from the media field was Dragoljub Vuković, a long-time journalist, media analyst and lecturer in the field of media literacy (President of the Media Center Assembly), who was nominated for this public position yesterday by 14 NGOs that have been active in the media field for more than three years and that have implemented media activities with annual budgets above 2.000 euros (which were the conditions prescribed by law).

The second candidate for Council member from an NGO in the field of media was Milan Radovic, long-time member of the RTCG Council and recent member of the AMU Council (director of the NGO Civic Alliance).
Đurović said that when Mandić, the Prime Minister Milojko Spajic (PES) and leader of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knezevic realized that "their candidate from the NGO Milan Radović" did not have the support of a larger number of NGOs (that meet the criteria) compared to Vuković, they decided to cancel the public call and stop the implementation of the Law on AVM Services.
"They realized that if the process of appointing members of the Agency's Council were completed, they would no longer have political influence over this Agency, which is the key regulator of the electronic media market," said Đurović.
The Council has five members (one of whom is elected as the president), and they are candidates: universities, NGOs dealing with the protection of human rights and freedoms, NGOs in the field of media, the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Montenegrin PEN Center, and the Bar Association of Montenegro Above.
Mandić announced the announcement for the election of two members of the Agency Council on December 10, which means that the application deadline expired yesterday (45 days from the announcement of the call). He announced the call after “Vijesti” announced that representatives of NGOs in the field of media, Milan Radović and the Montenegrin PEN Center Rajko Todorovic, the term lasts until December, so the head of parliament had to advertise for their successors at least six months ago.

This was happening on the eve of the closure of three chapters in Montenegro's negotiations with the EU on December 16, one of which was Chapter 10 (Information Society and Media). European Commission officials had previously inquired with the government why the advertisement had not been published, stating, as they have done many times before, that all institutions should be working at full capacity.
The NGOs have repeatedly called on Mandić and the Assembly to start the process of electing Radović's successor, judging that if this does not happen, suspicions will be raised that political games are involved.
The new law should increase the Agency's independence.
Đurović recalls that the new legal solutions were designed to increase the independence and professionalism of the Agency.
It states that the Agency Council has the authority to, for example, permanently ban the rebroadcasting of content from Happy TV, Pink TV (and other broadcasters from Serbia and other countries) when they spread hatred, deny the Montenegrin nation, incite discrimination, etc.
"The Agency for AVM Services will soon have jurisdiction over the prevention of hate speech on social networks. That is why it is essential that this institution be independent in its work and not politically controlled. That is certainly not in Mandić's interest," he said.
Đurović says that Milan Radović is a "desirable member" of the Agency Council for AVM Services, and when Mandić, Spajić and Knežević became aware that there was no way to "install" him on the Agency Council, they activated Bojana Jokić to deliver a "ordered, wordless, meaningless" letter to Mandić and the Administrative Board on January 22 (two days before the deadline for submitting documentation for candidates for the Agency Council), in which she tries to "manipulatively" point out an alleged technical error in the public call, which could be the basis for alleged lawsuits.

"Every government, including today's, has known how to repay its NGO followers, so we can expect that the author of the commissioned, meaningless letter will be rewarded for her participation in this manipulation with a position on a council controlled by the government," said Đurović.
According to him, there are hardly any people in Montenegro who would believe Mandić that he was afraid of a possible technical error that could lead to legal proceedings, knowing how many times he has violated the Constitution so far without caring about the consequences.
"We call on Andrija Mandić to publicly explain the alleged technical error in the public call that led him to cancel the public call. We remind you that the public call clearly states which organizations can propose candidates for the Agency's council. If there was an oversight, then he must dismiss the Secretary General of the Assembly (Aleksandra) Klaric", said Đurović.
He also invites the Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović to publicly condemn Mandić's behavior, which, as he claims, obstructs the implementation of the Law on Audiovisual Media Services, which was adopted in June last year as one of the mandatory regulations for obtaining the Report on the Assessment of the Fulfillment of Interim Benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR) in negotiations with the EU.
"We believe that the Minister is clear that by obstructing the implementation of the law, the Agency for AVM Services and its Council want to keep it under political control. We hope that the European Union Delegation also understands that by refusing to implement the law, the Agency is actually keeping it under political control," he said.
He adds that the Media Center and most other NGOs in the media field have been advocating for the professionalization of media institutions for years.
He reminds that the long-time illegal general director of RTCG Boris Raonic former director of the NGO Civic Alliance. A member of the current RTCG Council, against whom the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) filed an indictment for violating the law, is Amina Murić, also a former employee of the NGO Civic Alliance.
If parties elect NGO representatives then they serve the parties
Đurović warns that the recently temporarily closed Chapter 10 (Information Society and Media) may be reopened if obstruction of the implementation of media laws continues.
"Violation of procedures is not a problem, just as it was not during the DPS era. The part of NGOs that is not controlled by political parties will continue with their initiatives regardless of the current incumbents," he said.
He says that for more than a decade, the majority of NGOs in Montenegro have been fighting to ensure through legal norms that NGO representatives in various bodies and councils are elected by the NGOs themselves, not by political parties, "because if parties elect NGO representatives, then they serve the parties, not the citizens."
The conditions for nominating candidates have been tightened.
Đurović reminded that NGOs in the field of media were obliged to collect very extensive documentation proving their activism in the field of media in the previous three years.
He adds that the new Law on Audiovisual Media Services stipulates very demanding criteria for candidates for Council members, as well as for non-governmental organizations.
The new Law has tightened the conditions for proposing candidates for members of the Agency's Council from NGOs, thus excluding the possibility that existed until then - that the Administrative Board choose who to include on the list of candidates.
According to Article 150, an NGO can be a nominator if, among other things, in the previous three years prior to the publication of the advertisement, the annual budget for the implementation of activities in the area in which it proposes a candidate was not less than 3.000 euros, and if in the same period at least 2.000 euros were spent during one year for the implementation of activities in the specified area.
If, as the law states (Article 157), NGOs submit multiple separate proposals, the list established by the Administrative Board must include the candidate who has the support of the largest number of organizations that meet the prescribed requirements. According to the act that was in effect until June (when the Agency was called the Agency for Electronic Media), this was not the case.
NOTE: The subtitle in the first version stated that the applications were submitted by Dragoljub Vuković and Milan Radović. We apologize to Radović, Vuković and the readers.
Bonus video:
