Brnabić: Committee session, at the request of the opposition, on the new election of REM members - on Monday

At the beginning, Brnabić referred to the request to schedule a session of the committee for culture and information, pointing out that at the moment the chairperson of the committee, Nevena Djurić, is not in the country. 

"Today we saw representatives of the former government who dared to speak here in the National Assembly about such an important topic as freedom of the media and the state of the media sphere. We are proud of everything we have done in the field of media in terms of media freedom in the last 11 years because a lot has changed. Today in Serbia we finally have media that are allowed to criticize the government, we have media that are called investigative, we have media whose editorial policy is not influenced by anyone," she said.

She points out that today members of the opposition submitted a request to schedule a session of the committee for culture and information.

"We have introduced the principle and practice of responding immediately to all requests of the former government, and we have immediately convened the ninth session of the Committee for Culture and Information, which will be held on Monday, April 28 at 3 p.m.," she said.

Brnabić points out that there is no problem in talking about the topic of media freedom. The President of the Assembly then referred to the situation in the media at the time of the opposition.

"In 2011, at the Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists, it was pointed out that journalists in Serbia are 'impoverished, humiliated, silenced and afraid', that was while those who are holding our grudges today were in power. The European Parliament, in a resolution in 2011, expressed concern about media control and interference in the media sector due to attacks and threats to Serbian journalists and insufficient access to the Internet, which is necessary for media freedom. And the Council for Combating Corruption also back in 2011, led by Verica Barać, concluded in its report that strong political pressure was exerted on the media in Serbia and that the government led by the Democratic Party established 'full control' over the media in Serbia. The report stated that there are no more media from which citizens can get complete and objective information," she pointed out.

"Somehow it happened in Serbia that the most powerful in the media sphere and the closest to the top of the state, two people very close to the president of Serbia, Srdjan Šaper and Dragan Djilas, established complete control of the media space through their media companies".

Brnabić points out that Verica Barać stated that at least a quarter of the money for advertising in the media comes from the Serbian budget and added that Dragan Djilas has two media companies through which he exerted influence on the media.