Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said there was no such thing as a European model of financing public broadcasting services and it was important for each country to find its own tailor-made model, but he stressed that ensuring independence of public broadcasting service was crucial.
“It is not up to me to talk about the ways in which financing might be ensured in Serbia, but I am, nevertheless, aware that this is the topic of discussions,” Davenport told press.
Asked to comment on Serbian Government announcement regarding the public broadcasting service fee of RSD150, with the rest of the money coming from the budget, he said that ensuring independence of public broadcasting service was crucial and that each country should find its own tailor-made model of financing it.
Commenting on EU’s Annual Report on Serbia, EU Ambassador said that the Report was comprehensive and balanced in all areas.
“When it comes to media, we have concluded that, generally speaking, there was no significant progress regarding the freedom of speech and expression,” Davenport added.
He said that the Report stressed the fact that media laws had been adopted, that their implementation was ongoing, but it was far too early to say whether they were implemented successfully and in line with Media Strategy goals.
“Naturally, we should continue to closely monitor the situation,” Davenport said.
“We have noticed certain issues in the area of media, such as information leakage from official investigations and into media, as well as the issue of non-transparency of media financing,” he said and reminded that the EU made recommendations to Serbian Government and media sector which could improve such a situation.
