Selection of Council Members of REM: New Process, Old Farce
No surprises here: the start of the repeated process for the election of members of the REM Council has provided more reasons to assess that the authorities will not allow a loss of control over the media, rather than hope that Serbia, in accordance with the promises made to Western officials, could, even after the legal deadline, obtain a truly independent Regulatory Body for Electronic Media.
The previous attempt failed after seven independent candidates withdrew their nominations due to violations of the law, and the authorities are already warning that this could happen again, disregarding the fact that they themselves contributed to creating conditions for such an outcome.
After the new list of proposals for members of the REM Council raised old objections about the connections of several candidates with the current government, as well as counter-objections from the government itself, claiming that other candidates do not meet the requirements, the parliamentary Committee for Culture and Information adopted, without opposition members, the report on the list of candidates and proposers for the members of the REM Council, with a new session planned for the day of the release of this Radar. The most attention during the contentious session was drawn by MP Zoran Lutovac, who, after previously apologizing for inappropriate words, quoted insults directed at the rector of the University of Belgrade earlier that morning on TV Informer, a station from which the previous REM assembly revoked the frequency.
For quoting the editor of the ruling party's favorite television station, the same ruling party punished Lutovac by cutting off his microphone. Radomir Lazović from the Green-Left Front assessed that a large number of organizations should not be proposers, and therefore their candidates cannot participate in the process. He reiterated what journalistic organizations had already pointed out – that candidates Stevica Smederevac and Žarko Simović are in a conflict of interest as they have been long-time employees at REM, and regarding the university candidate Bojan Bilbija, he stated that he does not have the required 10 years of experience in electronic media, but rather in print media, adding that he is a person who has threatened members of the ZLF. As perhaps the most problematic candidacy, he cited the example of Miloš Garić, a former secretary in the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, now an advisor to the minister, as well as the owner of a company engaged in TV production.
The opposition MPs requested an additional deadline to review more than 2,000 pages of materials. On the other hand, MP SNS Marko Atlagić criticized Rodoljub Šabić for "not providing proof of work experience," claiming that the work booklet does not indicate this, while Nebojša Bakarec asserted that the government does not have its favorites among the candidates.
Source: Radar; Author: Vera Didanović
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