The Culture and Information Committee held its third sitting on 11 December 2008. The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairperson, Vesna Marjanovic, and attended by the Minister of Culture, Nebojsa Bradic and associates.

The Committee members discussed the Republic of Serbia 2009 Budget Bill – Section 23, Ministry of Culture. Minister Bradic estimated that next year’s budget will provide an efficient protection of the cultural heritage and realisation of the programme of promotion of Serbian culture in the world through the projects “Serbia in the World” and “The World in Serbia”.

The Committee members expressed their pleasure that the Bill envisages an 8.6% pay rise for employees in the culture sector and that the budgetary means allotted for culture in 2009 will be larger by several hundred million dinars.

Having completed the discussion, the Committee endorsed the Republic of Serbia 2009 Budget Bill – Section 23, Ministry of Culture.

The Committee went on to adopt the Bill on the Confirmation of the European Convention on Transborder Television and the Bill on the Confirmation of the Convention on the protection and promotion of the Diversity of cultural expression. The Committee members also discussed the working group’s information about the work done on the Bill on unauthorised consolidation and public ownership in the media.