By A group of non-governmental organizations, including the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM), has written to the head of the European Union Delegation to Montenegro, Johann Sattler, regarding the obstruction of the implementation of the Law on Audiovisual Media Services in the Montenegrin Parliament and the blockade of the work of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services (AMS).
TUMM, Media Center, Center for Investigative Journalism, Action for Human Rights, the Montenegro Media Institute, the Center for Civic Education, the Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro, and the Montenegrin PEN Center have informed Sattler in detail that the President of Parliament, Andrija Mandić, annulled the public call for two members of the Agency’s Council and that, to this day, he has not provided a credible explanation for this decision.
The NGO group reminded that the adoption of the Law on Audiovisual Media Services was one of the conditions for obtaining a positive IBAR, as well as for the temporary closure of Chapter 10 – Information Society and Media.
According to them, given that the second final benchmark within Chapter 10 concerns the functional and independent operation of the regulatory body for electronic media, namely AMU, it is clear that the actions of the President of Parliament and the Administrative Committee pose a serious risk of reopening this chapter.
“The President of Parliament and the Administrative Committee have been continuously obstructing the implementation of this law, including delaying the announcement of the competition for nearly six months, as well as this annulment due to an alleged ‘technical error that could have caused confusion’ on the very last day of the competition,” the statement highlights.
It is also stated that two candidates from the NGO sector applied for the competition – Dragoljub Vuković, who had the support of 14 NGOs, and Nikola Vujanović, with the support of one NGO.
Additionally, the Montenegrin PEN Center nominated a representative for the second vacant position on the Council.
“This means there was no confusion, but it appears that some planned candidates failed to secure credible support and withdrew, which further led to an openly politically motivated obstruction of the process. The direct consequence of such actions by the President of Parliament is that the Agency’s Council now has only three out of five members, meaning all must be present at every session and make unanimous decisions for the Agency to function,” the NGO group stated.
Furthermore, according to them, the implementation of a new selection process for the two members will take at least two months, during which the Agency will be non-functional.
“We have appealed to the head of the EU Delegation to use his authority to remind the leadership of the Montenegrin Parliament that the implementation of this law is part of the negotiation process and to support the efforts of NGOs to ensure the smooth operation of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services,” the letter concludes.
