Serbian MPs Pass Amendments to Media Legislation

Serbian parliament session (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

On June 16, members of the Serbian parliament carried with a majority of votes all 46 items on the agenda, including a number of pieces of legislation, among which was a set of media laws, the Law on access to the Alimony Fund and regular annual reports of independent institutions.

The MPs also passed amendments to the Law on establishing a guarantor template and subsidizing a portion of interest as a measure to support young people in purchasing their first piece of residential real estate, and amendments to three pieces of media legislation -- the Law on public information and media, the Law on electronic media and the Law on public service broadcasters.

The parliament also passed the Law on air protection and laws approving loans for building stretches along the Belgrade-Zrenjanin-Novi Sad freeway and procuring the French Rafale multirole fighter jets.

The parliament ratified a number of inter-country agreements and adopted the regular reports of the ombudsperson, the commissioner for information of public importance, the commissioner for the protection of equality, the State Audit Institution, the Fiscal Council and other institutions.

Opposition MPs for the most part spoke favorably of the Law on the Alimony Fund, put forward by the government, describing it as good in principle but saying that it could have been improved through a few amendments, which did not pass.

On the other hand, opposition MPs levelled the most criticism against new distribution of authority and the changes made to media legislation, which they believe will not improve the media scene in Serbia and were adopted hastily so the state could open Cluster 3 in European Union accession talks and gain access to EU funds.