Last night's claim by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić's office that I communicated a "notorious falsehood" when I said that, without the knowledge of the Ministry of Culture and Media (MKM), the European Commission (EC) had been sent amendments to media laws and a request that the EC give an opinion on them, announced today Neđeljko Rudović, general director for media at MKM.
"I communicated the absolute truth, which is confirmed by the fact that the Ministry of Culture and Media was never officially informed of the content of the amendments, it does not know when they were sent to the EC, nor when the EC responded. The Ministry of Culture and Media was never even announced that the amendments would be defined as such and sent to Brussels for an opinion. All this was carried out behind the scenes, based on behind-the-scenes agreements. Not only the Ministry responsible for the media, the members of the working group with whom we worked secretly were ignored sent solutions that seek political control over the Public Service (RTCG) and make the position and operations of commercial media more difficult, which fundamentally threatens media pluralism," Rudović pointed out in the announcement.
He added that "the Cabinet of the Prime Minister, after last December wanted to cancel the stable and predictable funding of the Public Service, so we convinced them at the last moment to give up, not to damage the image of the state and not to undermine the European integration of Montenegro, on 11. sent 'comments' on the text of the law on the Public Media Service RTCG and the law on AVM services".
"Then, on May 20, he sent 'remarks' and 'comments' on the 'draft media laws.' , caused damage to the media scene and the right of citizens to be truthfully and comprehensively informed. act and the Media Freedom Act), and that this is an opportunity for the cabinet's ideas to be put on the table and tested in the professional and general public, it started to sabotage the work of the MKM and the working group in which there were representatives of the media community, independent regulators, the Media Union, NGOs, the judiciary and state institutions," said Rudović.
Rudović said that precisely from the correspondence referred to by the Prime Minister's office and the document sent from the Prime Minister's office on May 20, it can be seen whether he uttered a lie that the MKM was never officially informed of the amendments, or whether the Prime Minister's office misled the public, presenting an insult to his account.
"I thank Vasilija Čarapić, head of the PES parliamentary group, for submitting a document confirming that the amendments were not sent to the Ministry of Culture and Media," concluded Rudović.
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