June 2, 2025
The Association of Independent Electronic Media, ANEM, submitted a letter to the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications stating that the Ministry had kept silent regarding the fact that the Government of Serbia had adopted amendments to the Law on Electronic Media and submitted it to the Serbian National Assembly three days prior to the Ministry holding a meeting with representatives of media associations to discuss amendments to the same law.
The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia [IJAS/NUNS] expressed concern over the way the Ministry is leading the process of amending media laws and the fact that the public wasn’t given time to familiarise themselves with the changes and voice possible objections. IJAS notes that, despite the European Commission’s comments on the proposed draft laws having arrived as early as December 2023, it was only in late 2024 that the Ministry decided to respond to those comments and to form working groups. These groups had extremely short deadlines with which to work, while they lacked insight into the draft versions sent to Brussels.
The Media Freedom Coalition sought the holding of a public discussion on amendments to media laws, but the Ministry refused to organise such a discussion and instead sent an email in which it states that the European Commission confirmed that all drafts are in compliance and requests the submission of comments within 48 hours, with the explanation that any further discussion would “slow Serbia’s European integration”.
