SKOPJE, 22.07.2019 – Today at the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia, the President of AJM, Mladen Chadikovski and the Director Dragan Sekulovski met with Ilija Dimovski, President of the Parliamentary Committee for Elections and Appointments.
At the meeting they discussed the blocked process for election of the members of the Council of the Agency for Audio and Visual Media Services and the Programming Council of MRT. It was agreed that in the coming days, Dimovski would schedule a session of this Committee, which would begin the procedure for election of persons in these councils as a precondition for reforms in the media regulator and the public service. According to Dimovski, it is expected that immediately after the summer vacations, if there is a political consensus, the legal obligation will be respected and a public debate will be held for the candidates who meet the legal requirements to be elected in the two councils by a two-thirds majority in the Parliament.
AJM emphasized that all deadlines for this procedure have already been breached and that after the session is scheduled the political parties should show a high level of understanding to effectively overcome the blockade in media reform.
In addition, the issue of non-functioning of the Commission for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information was highlighted at the meeting, which for more than a year does not have a quorum to decide upon complaints by journalists and citizens. This Commission, which now works as an Agency with the May 2019 amendments to the law, is extremely important for improving the transparency of public institutions in how they work and how they spend their citizens’ money. AJM representatives demanded that the Parliamentary Committee for Elections and Appointments should immediately start with the procedure and implement the law by electing the new director and deputy director in this agency.