IPI joins its partners in the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in expressing renewed concern over the undemocratic process by which the National Assembly conducted the latest election for the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), Serbia’s key media regulator.

After a delay of more than one year, the National Assembly last week appointed eight members to the REM Council, including four candidates seen by media experts as independent. However, it failed to approve the ninth appointee representing the country’s national minorities after the ruling majority abstained, drawing criticism of obstruction and leading to the resignation of four of the elected members.

Our organizations warn the European Union that the deliberate exclusion of the representative of the national minority councils, which followed non-transparent adjustments to the nomination criteria and procedure, represents yet another effort by the ruling majority to retain government influence over the body and block democratic reform of the media ecosystem.

The recent vote violates Article 12 of the country’s Law on Electronic Media, undermines the right of minority communities to legitimate representation on the REM Council, and further undermines public trust in the independence of the regulator.

MFRR partners stress that this election follows two previous processes favoring pro-government candidates, which we previously criticized as making a mockery of EU mandated reforms. This latest vote repeats this unsatisfactory process and provides yet another example of an entrenched strategy of media and regulatory control.

In light of the recent resignations of elected members, the MFRR underscore to the EU that the only acceptable outcome remains the lawful and complete appointment of the REM Council, with independent members and a legitimate minority representative. Without this, the regulator will lack credibility and cannot fulfill its role in protecting media pluralism and media ethics.

European standards under the newly adopted European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) are clear: national media regulatory authorities must be legally, functionally, and financially independent, shielded from political interference and influence, and appointed through fair, transparent and merit-based procedures. This recent process again violates these rules.