Independence of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services and public broadcaster RTCG, is a Non-Negotiable Requirement for EU Accession

Montenegro is not only required to formally adopt European legislation, but must also ensure its unhindered application.

In this context, the annulment of the competition for the selection of members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services (AMU) for the second time appears to be a direct obstruction to the implementation of IBAR-related laws and a slowdown of our European path. The rejection of two applications for AMU Council membership in the latest competition, allegedly due to formal irregularities, seems like a fabricated reason to annul this competition as well. Everything we have witnessed in the previous two failed competitions could suggest that the reason for the annulment was that the applicants were not close to anyone from the ruling majority. We remind that the very essence of the legal provisions on the selection of AMU Council members was precisely to prevent political control over candidates for membership in the AMU Council.

In addition, it is concerning that the call for the election of RTCG Council members - whose terms expires in June 2025 - is also delayed. Furthermore, announcements that amendments to the Law on Audiovisual Media Services and the Law on RTCG may be introduced, specifically in the parts relating to procedures for electing council members in both institutions, raise suspicions that the ruling majority is not satisfied with the existing media laws, which received the EU’s green light in 2024.

For all these reasons, we remind the competent authorities that the independence of the media regulator and the public broadcaster is a condition without which the process of European integration cannot be completed.

Ranko Vujović
Executive Secretary
Media Council for Self-Regulation