Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Pažin said that the Government has no legal option to react to the situation in the RTCG, except to use its constitutional authority and propose to the Parliament a new legal solution that will be a more reliable protection of the independence of the Public Service, the Government announced.
Today, Pažin met representatives of the national public service and the national media regulator, President of the RTCG Council Vladimir Pavićević, General Director of RTCG Andrijana Kadija, President of the Council of the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM) Ranka Vujović and AEM Director Abaz Džafić, with the basic intentions of the Government when proposing amendments to the RTCG Act, an activity planned for the fourth quarter of 2018 by the Government Work Program.
"My invitation to you and the wider professional public is - let's come together to better legal solutions, according to the highest international standards, and to ensure that the RTCG is a place of true journalistic independence and professionalism, devoid of any inappropriate influences," Pažin said to the representatives of the RTCG and AEM.
He also said that it is necessary to think about the model in which the election of the RTCG Council would be moved from the Assembly.
Pažin announced that the Government wants, through the active participation of RTCG, AEM, as well as the wider interested public, and with the support of the most relevant international addresses, to propose better legal solutions to the Assembly, which will provide stronger guarantees of full independence of the public service.
Pažin said that the Government wants a strong and credible Public Service, which can be trusted and which will report professionally and objectively on issues of public interest.
As he said, such a Public Service, which is the key cohesive force of society, and not a training ground for anyone's political, business or other interest influences, is "the urgent need of Montenegro".
The leaders of the council and management of RTCG and AEM welcomed the decision to approach the amendments to the Law on RTCG through a broad social dialogue and on the basis of the highest international standards. In this sense, they expressed their readiness to make a full contribution to this important process.
"Vice President Pažin expressed his expectation that the RTCG Council will soon approve the text of the Agreement on the Provision of Public Broadcasting Services 2018-2020, after the Government's working team accepted all eight amendments proposed by the RTCG. The Government, he said, supports the views of the working team and is ready to officially confirm the text of the Agreement with all the changes proposed so far by the public service," concludes the Government announcement.
Bonus video:
