ANEM will not participate in proposing candidates for the election of members of the REM Council.

As an authorized proposer in the category of associations whose goals are the realization of freedom of expression, ANEM believes that during the last election for members of the REM Council by proposers from the category of national councils of national minorities, the Law on Electronic Media has been violated.

ANEM supports the decision of the four elected independent members of the REM Council who have resigned, unwilling to participate in the violation of the electoral procedure by representatives of the highest government authority.

Unfortunately, we are witnessing that representatives of the National Assembly, particularly the Speaker of the Parliament, refuse to take responsibility, unjustifiably redirecting blame to authorized proposers and the elected independent members of the REM Council who have since resigned.

As a constructive partner in the previous process, ANEM indignantly rejects these criticisms, which speak more about those who express them.

This is particularly evident in the President of the Republic, who conveys conspiracy theories about alleged scenarios for revoking licenses from certain media service providers that the expert services of REM have determined to be continuously violating media laws. Additionally, there are falsehoods regarding the alleged majority that independent candidates were supposed to have at all costs, as well as the absence of principles and laws that the ruling majority has violated in its efforts to secure a two-thirds majority in the future Regulatory Council. The alleged goodwill of the authorities has been reduced to haggling, in which ANEM and other authorized proposers, candidates, and elected independent members have found themselves unable to function in a manner characteristic of ruling structures.

The President of the Board of Directors of ANEM, Veran Matić, believes that given such rhetoric and numerous untruths being expressed from the most powerful position in the state, it is clear that we do not see the purpose of further participation in the election of the four missing members of the REM Council.

“Representatives of the international community who participated alongside us in this painful process can attest to the constructive role of ANEM and other authorized proposers, independent candidates, and elected members. Our trust has been definitively betrayed, as the authorities show that they want to thwart substantive changes in the way the REM Council operates at all costs,” emphasized Matić.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)