Non-governmental organizations in the field of mass media condemn the attempts of the Executive Committee and the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia to undermine the freedom of the press in the region by establishing a “parallel” mechanism for licensing the activity of audiovisual media in the region, as well as other provisions that compromise the role of and the independence of the regional public media service provider, Gagauziya Radio Televizionu (GRT). The signatory NGOs demand the immediate withdrawal of the legislative initiative that blatantly contravenes the legislation of the Republic of Moldova.
On June 25, the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia approved, in the first reading, a package of amendments to a local law regulating the activity of the audiovisual media. The project aims, among other things, to create a new procedure for licensing the activity of TV and radio stations in the region, which consists in obtaining from the General Directorate of Construction and Infrastructure of the autonomous region, for a fee, an authorization called Izin. The respective legislative innovation involves circumventing the mechanism for obtaining the broadcasting license from the Audiovisual Council (CA) – the only authority that can decide on offering a media service provider, under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova, the right to broadcast a certain linear audiovisual media service.
The approved amendments also contain a series of inappropriate and legally inconsistent interventions on the operating mechanisms of the public provider of audiovisual media services GRT. Among them is the creation of an annual evaluation procedure of the employees’ activity by a “special commission”, in the composition of which there would also be a member from the local legislative body and which presents a major potential for undermining the independence of the public provider.
The signatory NGOs condemn the attempts of the authorities in Gagauzia to undermine the freedom of the press, expressing their regret regarding the repetition of slips of this kind. We ask the Comrat authorities to withdraw without delay the legislative initiative that flagrantly contravenes the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova.
