08. 10. 2014

Vucic: I do not exert pressure on media

At a press conference after the delivery of the European Commission's progress report, Vucic said that a part of the report concerning media freedoms is "very good" and notes that good progress was made in the area of information society and media, and that "the negative part consists of two sentences".

As for freedom of expression, the report notes that there are concerns about deteriorating conditions for the full exercise of freedom of expression in Serbia, and that there is a growing trend of self-censorship, combined with undue influence on editorial policies and a series of cases of intervention against websites in the first six months, Vucic said.

"We are expected to identify and prosecute those suspected of these violations," Vucic said.

He underlined that he expects no pressures on public media from ministries, foreign embassies and other places, and that the relevant authorities should find out who is exerting indirect influence on editorial polices.

He said that members of the government, including him, are often "the target of the dirtiest attacks and blatant lies", and underlined that he does not see that others sustain the same attacks.

There was a time when they accused us of removing texts from websites, but it turned out that the claims were false, he said.

"I will do everything I can, tell me what I can do to improve that," Vucic told reporters, adding that he did not get any answer from the European Commission to questions regarding the alleged pressures.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport said that the adoption of media laws constitutes a step forward in the implementation of the media strategy, but that is not all, and much has yet to be done for full implementation.

As regards the situation in Serbia in this field, I think we have described the situation in the report, and as I have already said I think that ensuring media freedoms and freedom of expression will be a priority in the coming period, Davenport said.

He said that the EU will continue to watch closely the situation in Serbia, and other candidate countries.