An N1 source in the European Parliament said that the document calling for the removal of any mention of Telekom Serbia from a report was a proposal by Rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilcik made at a meeting on amendments filed on his report.

The source said that the meeting lasted three hours, much long than usual and added that Bilcik’s proposal was not accepted. “The part of the report on the media and Telekom Serbia was left in the amendments to the draft report,” the source said.

A document that N1 had access to showed that state-owned Telekom Srbija complained to the European Union (EU), requesting that it be dropped from the amendments to the draft Report on Serbia.

A second source told N1 that the scandals that Telekom was allegedly involved in were removed from the amendments but that the parts detailing the role of the company in controlling the Serbian media were left in.

The amendments criticizing Telekom Serbia and the Serbian authorities for allegedly trying to monopolize the media scene and allowing the airing of Russia Today were filed by several MEPs after Bilcik submitted his draft report. Telekom Serbia is also mentioned in amendments to the part of the report covering corruption and organized crime.