April 30, 2025
The National Assembly of Serbia’s Committee for Culture and Information has once again scheduled elections for members of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media.
The election of a new REM Council is one of the preconditions set by the EU for Serbia to open new clusters in pre-accession negotiations. The Parliamentary Committee announced the elections immediately ahead of the arrival of EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
It was already clear by the end of January that the previous election process had failed, with seven candidates having withdrawn over apparent illegalities and discrimination against candidates.
Following the Culture Committee’s session, there is no indication that this latest election for a new REM Council will differ from previous elections and will unfold in compliance with the law.
The law specifically stipulates that members of the Council must be experts in the field of electronic media and must operate independently of the authorities.
The majority of candidates in the previous call for REM Council members were known to the public for their overt support of President Aleksandar Vučić.
The proponent organisations partly included GONGOs that were created by the ruling party for just such an occasion, while some of the candidates weren’t even experts in the area of electronic media.
