The Pljevlja Municipal Assembly adopted a Decision on the establishment of the local public broadcaster Radio Television Pljevlja, which, among other things, stipulates that the future Council of this public service will have three members instead of the current five. Representatives of the non-governmental sector were left without a seat on the Council, which caused opposition from opposition councilors and part of the public.
The explanatory memorandum to the Decision states that the main reason for its adoption is to align it with the Media Law and the Audiovisual Media Services Law, which were adopted in the middle of last year.
One member of the Council shall be nominated by sports organizations, local associations of businessmen and employers, tourist or agricultural associations and a representative trade union organization represented in the Social Council. The Council shall be deemed to be able to work and make decisions validly when at least two members have been appointed.
Independent councilor Saša Ječmenica says that the Law on Audiovisual Services does not allow for eliminating authorized proposers in this way.
"Authorized proposers are defined by the law itself, and where there is discretion is to determine whether there will be three or five members of the Council. It is up to the President, as the proposer, to determine three or five members of the Council. That is his legitimate right, but it should also be emphasized the problem of the functionality of that Council with three members and ensuring a quorum for work and voting," said Ječmenica.
He is against excluding the civil sector in this way.
"We cannot suddenly throw the non-governmental sector underfoot while it was still going strong, when the director of the Public Service Broadcasting of Montenegro was elected from the non-governmental sector, four or five times illegally, and now the entire country is being entertained by the misery. I think that representatives of the non-governmental sector can make a much greater contribution to fulfilling the obligations of the local public broadcaster than a farmer can make in creating content," said Ječmenica.
President of the Municipality Dario Vranes He accused certain non-governmental organizations of trying to obstruct the work of local government.
"Dozens of NGOs are working in our municipality. Several of the same people and several of the same NGOs are trying to obstruct many processes in the municipality, and even in the state, in various ways. I won't say from which sources they are financed, but I think their intentions are not the best for our municipality and its development. If it can function and if the law says it can with three members, I think it should be with three members, all for the purpose of better functioning of local government," said Vranes at a session of the local parliament.
Member of DPS Haris Alavac He says that it can't be that everyone from the non-governmental sector is bad.
"It cannot be that no one can deserve to be a member of the RTV Pljevlja Council. The members of the Council are sports organizations that I support, an association of businessmen, entrepreneurs and farmers, and everything else is missing. There is no culture, education, health or other associations. Does this mean that RTV Pljevlja should not deal with environmental protection, education, culture, health," said Alavać.
The Democratic Club announced that the Law on Audiovisual Media Services was respected when making the decision.
"Appreciating the independence of the local public broadcaster, and taking into account compliance with the law, we supported the proposed decision. All the more so since LJE RTV Pljevlja is now functioning satisfactorily compared to some previous periods. In the past, salaries in this media house were delayed for more than a year, and RTV PV was often exposed to political pressure to shut down, reduce or eliminate funding. Now we have an objective and financially stable media house and there is no doubt that they will continue to deliver a media product to citizens in accordance with the law and the principles of professional journalism," the Democrats' Club of Councilors responded.
PES Vijesti was unable to get a comment from them yesterday.
Councilor of Nova Bozidar Jelovac claims that the new decision is better than the previous ones. He says that during the DPS rule, two retired police officers were elected as members of the three-member Council.
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