IPI: REM election process flawed

A statement said that IPI and its partners in the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) expressed “renewed concern over the undemocratic process by which the National Assembly conducted the latest election for the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), Serbia’s key media regulator”.

It recalled that parliament appointed 8 of the 9 members of the REM Council but failed to appoint the 9th who represents national minorities because ruling coalition MPs abstained from the vote.

“Our organisations warn the European Union that the deliberate exclusion of the representative of the national minority councils, which followed non-transparent adjustments to the nomination criteria and procedure, represents yet another effort by the ruling majority to retain government influence over the body and block democratic reform of the media ecosystem,” it said.

“The recent vote violates Article 12 of the country’s Law on Electronic Media, undermines the right of minority communities to legitimate representation on the REM Council, and further undermines public trust in the independence of the regulator.

“MFRR partners stress that this election follows two previous processes favouring pro-government candidates, which we previously criticised as making a mockery of EU mandated reforms. This latest vote repeats this unsatisfactory process and provides yet another example of an entrenched strategy of media and regulatory control.

“In light of the recent resignations of elected members, the MFRR underscore to the EU that the only acceptable outcome remains the lawful and complete appointment of the REM Council, with independent members and a legitimate minority representative. Without this, the regulator will lack credibility and cannot fulfill its role in protecting media pluralism and media ethics.

“European standards under the newly adopted European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) are clear: national media regulatory authorities must be legally, functionally, and financially independent, shielded from political interference and influence, and appointed through fair, transparent and merit-based procedures. This recent process again violates these rules.

“The MFRR consortium therefore urges the international community and institutions such as the OSCE and the European Union to refrain from legitimising this outcome. We stress that any assessment of progress on media freedom in Serbia must be conditioned on a complete, lawful and transparent appointment of the REM Council.

“More widely, Serbia remains in a period of deep crisis for media freedom and has experienced significant backsliding on media freedom and freedom of expression in the past year, as rightly recognised by the European Commission in its latest EU Enlargement Package.

“Moving forward, the MFRR will closely watch the response of the European Union and the European Commission to this alarming development and continue to update European institutions on all future latest developments regarding the REM Council,” the statement said.