The meeting was attended by EC officers Manuel Munteanu and Andris Kesteris, as well as representatives of the European Union Delegation to Serbia, European Integration Office and the Ministry of Culture and Media.
Catherine Niemann-Metcalf asked about the scope of the Culture and Information Committee, privatisation of the media, cooperation of the Culture and Information Committee with the relevant ministry and the Republic Broadcasting Agency.
Vesna Marjanovic said that the Committee has played a positive role in the reform of the media, improvement and adoption of media laws, but that it still needed to strengthen its role in the control of the implementation of said legislation. The Committee had organised several public hearings on the freedom of the media and the draft law on public information. Marjanovic stressed the need for media reform which should, in addition to media freedom and independence, secure a positive role for the media in the democratisation of society. She stressed the importance of preserving the autonomy of the public service as well as the fact that, when it comes to the media privatisation process, it is necessary to ensure competitiveness on the media market on one side and improve social dialogue at the national and local level on the other, since this is a sensitive issue still lacking consensus.
In was concluded that the Culture and Information Committee can have a very positive role in broaching and resolving important issues which could be greatly aided by the experience of some EU member states.