Selection of Members for the REM Council: "Our 'mirror' will be reflected in the regulatory body in the coming years."

Students have succeeded in this endeavor: at the end of April, the Committee of the Assembly of Serbia for Culture and Information convened, first nullifying the old competition and announcing a new one, and then this week, it published a public call for the nomination of candidates for the selection of members of the REM Council. This marks the beginning of a new “battle” for this regulatory body, around which disputes have frequently arisen in recent years, as a portion of the professional, critical, and opposition public views it as an important lever for the current government. The entire process is now being closely monitored not only by the domestic public but also by European officials.

The role of REM is significant and important. Among other things, this body issues licenses for television operations, controls their work, and can impose sanctions on those who violate the rules. However, there have not been many such sanctions in practice. Therefore, much is expected from the new members of the REM Council – primarily to improve the media landscape and, consequently, the overall socio-political scene in Serbia, writes NIN.

Why REM is Important

The Vice President of the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Olivera Milošević, emphasizes to NIN that REM has always been important in terms of its primary role of controlling and regulating the work of electronic media.

“With credible members of the REM Council, who would professionally perform their duties without state censorship or interference, this body would have an immeasurable role in shaping the social environment. In that case, our society would not be as morally devastated and polarized, nor would the media landscape be distorted to such an extent that it endangers the safety of groups and individuals who oppose the government. We are witnesses that some television stations have become true arenas for settling scores with government critics, without any constraints; everything is ‘allowed’. Today, REM, with an impartial and credible Council, would be a remedy and a starting point for fundamental social changes, but the fear that these changes would consequently lead to political shifts is evidently strong. Thus, we can read not only the importance of REM today but also its near future. In the coming years, this regulatory body will reflect our ‘mirror’,” states Olivera Milošević.

Journalist Veran Matić assesses for NIN that REM is one of the key links in creating the prerequisites for the healing of the local media scene and a fairer electoral campaign.

“It needs to enable the transformation of Radio-Television of Serbia and Radio-Television of Vojvodina into true public media services, as they currently are not – REM selects the Boards of Directors of public services, and these appoint the managers and editors – as well as sanction daily violations of the Law on Electronic Media by media service providers. Without two-thirds of truly independent experts on the REM Council, this will be an impossible mission. Therefore, it is important for everyone to mobilize after the public call, as it has not happened since the establishment of the Regulator twenty years ago that the entire composition of the REM Council has changed,” says Matić.        

Who Can Propose Members

The REM Council consists of nine members elected by the National Assembly upon the proposal of authorized proposers, with three members elected for two years, three for four years, and three for six years.

Authorized proposers include: the Ombudsman, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, as well as universities accredited in Serbia, associations of electronic media publishers in Serbia whose members have at least 30 licenses for providing audio and audiovisual media services, registered for at least three years prior to the public call, journalist associations in Serbia, each having at least 300 members with paid membership fees and registered for at least three years prior to the public call, and associations of film, stage, and dramatic artists and composer associations in Serbia, if registered for at least three years prior to the public call. Authorized proposers also include associations whose goals are to achieve freedom of expression if registered for at least three years before the public call, having at least three completed projects in this field in the last three years, as well as associations whose goals are the protection of children, if they have been registered for at least three years before the public call and have completed at least three projects in this area in the last three years, along with national councils of national minorities and churches and religious communities.

The mandate of the previous composition of the REM Council expired on November 4 of last year, and since then, this body has practically not functioned. In the meantime, there have been attempts to elect new members, but without success. Seven out of 18 candidates for REM membership withdrew their candidacies at the end of January, including independent candidates: Saša Mirković, Željko Hubač, Dubravka Valić Nedeljković, Aleksandra Krstić, Rodoljub Šabić, and Dušan Aleksić, as well as the candidate from the national councils of national minorities, Muhedin Fijuljanin. Among these candidates, there were comments that the entire process “is not inclusive and transparent,” and that “political integrity has faltered in the procedure for electing the new REM Council.” After that, the entire process was stalled until the recent student blockade of RTS.

Chance for a Better Outcome

Olivera Milošević from UNS states that it is a significant advancement and a good decision that the previous competition was annulled and a new one announced, and she emphasizes that we owe credit for this, among other things, to the students who protested in front of RTS with this demand for days.

“The previous process was accompanied by numerous irregularities that undermined the Law on Electronic Media, whose latest amendments were supposed to lead to a fairer procedure for the election of the REM Council, that is, to reduce state influence. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and we had a grotesque procedure with candidacies that were not only contrary to the law but also to fundamental ethics, from conflicts of interest to GONGO organizations with questionable membership numbers. The unsustainability of such a model, the withdrawal of a number of candidates, and public pressure forced the authorities to repeat the competition, but the motivation of the authorities for control over REM, it seems, has never been greater in the context of the current socio-political situation and potential elections. Therefore, it is unrealistic to expect a refined and clean procedure, nor to hope that everything will proceed in the spirit of the law,” states Milošević, adding:

“The media community, albeit the part that has not contributed to irregularities, must be more decisive in insisting on adherence to the rules. We must also trust that the eyes of the public will be focused on the upcoming election and that the focus of students will remain on this topic. This is, unfortunately, the only way for the state to be compelled to respect its own laws, which would be unquestionable under normal circumstances.”

Veran Matić believes that the new competition will be more successful if all key actors – students, authorized proposers, candidates, representatives of the opposition, and the non-governmental sector – are maximally involved and mobilized.

“The new Public Call was announced as a result of the two-week blockade of RTS and the students' demands, making this topic significantly more important for a broader circle of people. Thus, this process will unfold under much greater scrutiny from the interested public, not only the professional but also the wider public and representatives of the international community. In such circumstances, if there is political will and mechanisms to prevent the legal abuses that characterized the previous process, this Public Call could yield a better outcome than the previous one,” concludes Matić.

Under the Spotlight of European Officials

The election for members of the REM Council has recently become a topic among European officials. At a session of the European Parliament (EP), where a report on Serbia was presented, European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, cited the election of the REM Council as a "key step in restoring trust" and a path to "getting back on track," emphasizing that this process should involve all relevant actors.

“We must once again unite all political participants, civil society, all together to fulfill all obligations that Serbia committed to last December, which include the election of REM, the adoption of other media laws, and recommendations for judicial reform,” stated Marta Kos.

EP rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula, highlighted that in our country “the regulatory body for media does not function,” and that “there is a lack of assurance of the independence of key institutions, including REM.”

And the EU ambassador to Serbia, Emanuele Žiofre, welcomed the recent announcement of the new call for nominations for REM Council members.

"We look forward to a transparent and inclusive process that will result in a credible, strong, and independent regulatory body for the benefit of a pluralistic environment for electronic media," wrote Žiofre in a post on social media.

 Source: NIN