With five votes in favor, Vladimir Drekalović was elected Vice President of the Radio and Television Council of Montenegro (RTCG).
In addition to Drekalović, Janko Ljumović was also a candidate for vice president, and three members of the Council voted for him. Both candidates were, according to the rules of procedure of the Public Service Council, proposed by the president of that body, Veselin Drljević.
Among the items on the agenda was a discussion of objections to the apartments allocated to RTCG employees.
Drljević said that objections to the distribution of apartments would be discussed at the end of the session.
According to him, this concerns sensitive candidate data, and he asked the media to withdraw "so that the Council members can resolve the issue in silence."
With six votes in favor, the Council members accepted the proposal.
Milan Knežević, director of Television of Montenegro (TVCG), said that the question arises "whether it was necessary at this moment to make changes to the Program and Production (PP) Plan that are not of a small scale."
"Changes to the television PP plan are something we will have to get used to. We will come to a situation where we will not be current, not to say anachronistic... If we want the program and plans to keep up with life, PP plans must be subject to some kind of revision, especially when it comes to news programs," explained Knežević.
New member of the RTCG Council, Nikola Tatar, said that he is not in favor of canceling any shows.
"When planning the PP plan, it is necessary to change them more carefully," Tatar assessed.
RTCG Director General Boris Raonić said that untimely preparation "was previously a serious problem in the Public Service Broadcaster." He said that the creation of a new PP plan will demonstrate much better planning ability.
RTCG Council member Janko Ljumović said that artistic and musical production are "high-risk areas." He asked how the production of certain music videos was planned without first mapping out their actors.
He was interested in how much money RTCG allocates in total for copyrights.
"I believe it is a question of standards and quality of music programming. Copyright is extremely correlated with quality."
Marijana Camović Velicković, a member of the Public Service Council, said that she did not agree with introducing changes to the PP plan as a rule.
"You shouldn't cancel and delete shows that you weren't able to start, let alone realize. When we adopt the annual realization report, we don't have a true picture of what was done, because we have a refined version," she explained.
She asked how many shows on the Public Service Broadcasting System deal with the lives of politicians, and said that too much attention is paid to them.
Knežević said that it is quite logical that politicians appear on the Parliamentary Channel.
Camović Velicković told him that he had not answered why there were so many shows about politicians. The director of TVCG replied that his position on the issue "was not important."
Member Naod Zorić also said that he does not like the RTCG Program and Production Plan for the current year.
"I have listened to the explanations why the festival for children was not implemented. My education and beliefs convince me that I cannot accept this. We are extending the number of shows like 'Nacrtani' from 28 to 36. I know that that show has ratings, people tell me. It deals with politicians, music, sports. In that show, I did not see a young person, a teacher, a student, talking about the problems they have," said Zorić, adding that he will not vote for the PP plan for this year.
Camović Velicković said she was surprised that Europe Now Movement (PES) MP Vasilije Čarapić called her out on a show that featured historians Šerbo Rastoder and Aleksandar Stamotović as guests.
"Who allowed him to be a guest on this media outlet? He should be banned from the Public Service. He is a compromised, obscure sexist. And now I am accused by PES MPs of being my work," she said.
Drljević said "he has no opinion on Aleksandar Stamatović, and he does not want to express it."
The Amendment to the Public Service Broadcasting Plan for the current year was adopted with five votes in favor and one against.
Rakočević: RTCG earned more than 11 million euros from January to June
Assistant General Manager for Corporate Affairs Goran Rakočević said that more than 11 million euros in revenue was generated in the first six months of the year. Expenses, he said, were more than nine million euros.
Camović Velicković said that she was disappointed that a little more than seven thousand euros were spent on a feature program on the public service broadcaster.
"How far has the Collective Agreement come?" she asked.
Raonić said that, if adopted, the salary fund would exceed two million euros.
"If an agreement is reached, the salaries of RTCG employees will be at least 150 euros higher," said Raonić, adding that RTCG is perhaps the only public service in which the trade union organization opposes a salary increase.
Drljević said that he is "absolutely in favor of increasing salaries, but also of the sustainability of the system."
"If we are in a good position this year, that does not apply to next year. If we find ourselves in a situation where we do not have money next year, what do we have then? We have the street," he said.
Raonić reminded that RTCG's finances do not depend on the will of political entities, but that the Public Service is financed directly from the budget.
With six votes in favor and two abstentions, the Council adopted the financial report for the period from January to June 2025.
Raonic said that after the competition for Montevideo is announced, it must be implemented this year.
"It is no different from other public services. This model is dominant in Europe," he said.
According to him, Montenegro will have a representative for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest this year, after nine years.
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