Parliamentary Committee Adopts List of Nominators, Candidates for REM Council

REM - Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (Beta/Milos Miskov)

The Serbian parliament’s Committee on Culture and Information adopted on Oct. 14 the list of candidates and authorized nominators for the appointment of members of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM). Of the 14 members of the Committee, ten were in favor, two against, one abstained and one did not vote.

During the session, the members continued the consideration of objections to the list of candidates and authorized nominators for the appointment of REM Council members, and of the ministries’ opinions of them, with the authorities and the opposition maintaining completely opposite stances.

The session of the Committee was adjourned on July 2, with an MP of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Nebojsa Bakarec, claiming that this was done in order to “entertain the whims of the Civil Initiatives” and the opposition regarding particular nominators.

An MP from the Green-Left Front, Rastislav Dinic, has stated that the authorities were “once again sabotaging” the appointment of members of the REM Council and that they intended to “put under control” the new REM Council, too. He added that the stance of the Civil Initiatives about the nominators had been explained in detail and that they insisted that the Committee accepted it. A member from the People’s Movement of Serbia, Ivana Rokvic, has assessed that the Progressive Party would “defend REM till the last drop of blood.”

The new process of appointment of members of the REM Council began after a two-week students’ blockade of the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) in April, which was the demand of that protest. The authorities conceded by annulling the ongoing process of appointment of members of the REM Council in the parliament and launching a fresh one.