Telekom Serbia spreads Putin's propaganda while boasting of cooperation with EU

Reacting to a report about the criticism from the EU, Lucic said that "the company Telekom Serbia and the European Union are actually extremely good partners in projects for a better life of the citizens of Serbia and the further improvement of Serbia’s economy."

He argued that the company maintains a partnership with the European Investment Bank, on various projects, on establishing a representative office in Brussels, and in regard to broadcasting the Euronews and Bloomberg channels, Nova.rs reported.

However, he omitted the fact that Telekom also offers Russian channels such as Rossia 24 and RT News, which have been sanctioned and cancelled in the European Union.

Members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament (AFET) have submitted several amendments to Vladimir Bilcik's draft report on Serbia, mentioning Telekom Serbia as an instrument for increasing the influence of the ruling party on the media market in the country. European Western Balkans saw the text of the amendments which AFET will decide on in late April. MEPs urged authorities in Serbia to provide reliable results in regard to investigations related to cases of high public interest, which includes the case of Telekom Serbia.

One of the amendments, submitted by the "Renew Europe" parliamentary group, condemns the state financing of Telekom, arguing that the way this gives the company an unfair competitive advantage and contributes to the “collapse of independent media in Serbia.” The MEPs called on the European Commission to look into the loan the European Investment Bank gave to the company.

They expressed concern about the operations of the company and allegations that "the ruling party is using it to increase its influence on the media market in Serbia through the purchase and financing of media companies". The amendments also condemn the fact that Telekom Serbia enabled the transmission of Russia Today (RT) and call on the Serbian authorities to comply with the EU Council's decision to suspend the broadcasting activities of Sputnik and RT.

Dutch MEP Thijs Reuten told N1 that the EP is concerned about the power that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has through Telekom Serbia and that many actors associated with the ruling SNS are trying to bring independent media in the country to propagate the government's views through the promise of state funding and, ironically, money from loans from the European Investment Bank.

“To add insult to injury, Telekom Serbia mocked the sanctions by broadcasting Putin's propaganda, Russia Today. The message of the amendment is that this is absolutely unacceptable. Especially in a country that is a candidate for EU membership," Reuten said.

MEP Klemen Groselj also told N1 previously that the lack of a reaction from the country’s judiciary speaks volumes about the situation regarding the company and “the true state of Serbia's independent regulatory institutions and the judiciary itself”.

The issue of Telekom Serbia came into focus when the company acquired “Kopernikus Technology” in 2018. Raskrikavanje reported that Telekom was prepared to invest as much as 195 million euros in the company, which had a three percent share of the market.

"Besides the justified assumptions that Kopernikuswas overpaid, a month later the owner, Srdjan Milanovic, the brother of a high-ranking official of the Serbian Progressive Party, bought two channels B92 and Prva from the Greek 'Antena Group' for a similar amount of money. At that time, these were the only two televisions with national coverage, where criticism of the ruling regime could be heard to some extent. Right after Milovanovic became the owner of these two televisions, the editorial policy became dominantly pro-government," EWB reported.

Although civil society organizations, as well as opposition parties, have pointed out the controversial business of the state-owned company over the years, Telekom only became interesting to the international public a few years later. Almost all reports that mention Telekom express concern for the company's operations and the impact on the media.

The European Parliament explicitly mentions the Telekom case for the first time in Vladimir Bilcik's resolution for 2020. At that time, Serbia was urged to achieve progress in the fight against corruption and organized crime, "especially when it comes to cases in which there is a high level of public interest, including the cases of Krusik, Jovanjic and Telekom Serbia".

The Freedom House report "Nations in Transit 2021" also noted that the President of Serbia and his SNS followed the 'Hungarian model' of taking over the media, overseeing the introduction of slanderous campaigns and pro-government propaganda. According to the findings of this international NGO, this contributed to the victory of the ruling party in the elections and the formation of a parliament without opposition.

That year, the rating of media independence, which was one of the worst ratings for Serbia for years, further decreased from 3.25 in 2019 to 3.0, "due to the continuous and increasing pressure of the government on independent media and journalists, as well as the increasing capture of the media through the state Telekom".
The issue was mentioned in the EU’s annual report on Serbia for the first time in 2022, which mentions the company in the context of media ownership and ongoing court cases.

The Reporters Without Borders report for 2021 said that one of the problems in the media sector is concentration and that the state telecommunications company and the private company SBB are fighting for access, programs and users.

The 2021 report on censorship in the Balkans by the Brussels-based international organization "Balkan Free Media Initiative (BFMI)" states that there is more and more evidence that state bodies are used to strategically consolidate control over the media, citing the case of Telekom.

The purchase of Kopernikus is not the only controversial business decision of Telekom that resulted in the capturing of the media in Serbia, EWB reported. At the beginning of 2020, the cable operator Supernova, owned by Telekom, removed from its offer channels N1 and Nova S, the only two television platforms that give significant space to opposition voices in the country.

Later that year, the vice-president of the Party of Freedom and Justice, Marinika Tepic, presented to the public a 38 million euro contract between Telekom Serbia and the company "Wireless media", owned by Igor Zezelj. As Tepic claimed at the time, Zezelj used that money to buy Kurir, which would occasionally publish criticism of the policies of Aleksandar Vucic the SNS before the purchase.

"After Kurir came under the ownership of Igor Zezelj, the reporting of that media became no different to the rest of the pro-government tabloids. In addition, representatives of the opposition also claimed at the time that Žeželj's production company 'Firefly' had the monopoly in the production of TV series in Serbia thanks to Telekom," EWB reported.